Decaux presses on with Outdoor acquisition

by Maisie McCabe, Media Week 08-Oct-08, 16:20

LONDON - Jean-Charles Decaux, joint chief executive of JCDecaux and chairman of the executive board, has said the current economic crisis will not affect the company's bid to buy Rupert Murdoch's News Outdoor company.

Decaux is reported to have said though the current crisis is severe, it does not challenge the analysis it is conducting with News Outdoor and the News Corp team in Russia.

JCDecaux announced last month that it was in exclusive talks with News Corporation's outdoor division, which operates mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Decaux added, according to Reuters, that he expected the economic climate to prompt mergers and acquisitions in the media sector and that JCDecaux is well placed to take advantage of the difficult climate.

He also said he expects the media sector to rebound in 2010 as a result of a number of major sports events.

Decaux is reported to have said the company's global growth for the first half of the year was around 9.5%, but slower sales in the second half of the year mean that, as a whole, growth should stand at between 6% and 7% unless there is a major deterioration in the economy.