Maiden goes for a song but says it has no alternative

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 14-Mar-06, 08:50

LONDON - Maiden Outdoor has finally found a buyer in the form of US outdoor company Titan, which is snapping up the troubled firm for just 20p a share.

The deal values Maiden at £49.6m, including net debt of around £39m and £10.6m for Maiden's shares. The company's share price has lost around 90% of its value over the past year, after disappointing sales and a breach of its banking covenants in December.

The shares had been trading around the 70p mark until February 27, when Maiden admitted that it had failed to find a buyer, sending its share price crashing by around 50%.

Shares in the company were trading around 27p yesterday, but fell to just above the 20p asking price when the market opened this morning.

Ron Zeghibe, chief executive of Maiden, said: "We have looked at a wide variety of strategic options; however, in view of the position taken by our banks, we now have no alternative but to accept the offer from Titan, which in the circumstances is the best available for Maiden shareholders, its employees and customers, and which has received irrevocable undertakings from approximately 57.3% of shareholders."

Titan has formed a new company called Titan Outdoor Limited to buy Maiden. Although it has no UK assets at present, its founders, Bill Apfelbaum and Don Allman, have experience in the UK market, having run TDI, holder of the London Underground and London bus contracts between 1994 and 2000.

Apfelbaum, chairman of Titan, said: "We believe Maiden has the pre-eminent outdoor asset collection in the UK and we look forward to once again building relationships with advertisers, agencies, outdoor specialists and authorities."

Titan was founded in 2000 and has assets in the US, Canada and Ireland, providing sales and marketing of transit, billboard, telephone kiosk and street banners.

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