SMG announces £62m Primesight sale

Scottish Media Group (SMG) has announced it has agreed to sell off its outdoor advertising arm to private equity business GMT Communications Partners (GMT), a private equity group, for £62m.

In the proposed deal, SMG would receive £52m cash with a further £10m to come dependent on profit targets. SMG says it will plough funds from the sale into paying off its large debt.

The group says that performance at its television and cinema advertising arms and the Virgin Radio brand are meeting expectations.

Announcing the deal SMG chief executive Rob Woodward said: “This is a good price for the business and clearly ahead of where we were in the previous sale process. This is a strong example of the new board delivering on its promises.

The proceeds of the sale will strengthen SMG’s balance sheet while freeing the management team to concentrate on the turnaround of the television business and the disposal of our other non core businesses.”

The Primesight deal comes after UTV declared its interest in snapping up Virgin Radio, which SMG is expected to float later this year.
Primesight had been up for sale but a new board took it off the market saying the price was too low.