JCDecaux SA, the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide and América Móvil, the leading wireless provider in Latin America and the third largest in the world in terms of equity subscribers, have announced the entering into a joint venture for the out-of-home (“OOH”) advertising businesses in Mexico by merging each of Corporación de Medios Integrales, S.A. de C.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of AMX (“CMI”) and Eumex, S.A. de C.V., a controlled entity of JCDecaux SA (“Eumex”) into JCD Out Of Home Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (“JCDecaux MX”), a recently-formed entity controlled by JCDecaux SA which holds 100% shares of Fusionante Vendor, S. de R.L. de C.V. (“Vendor”), among other companies.

Entities controlled by JCDecaux will ultimately own 60% shares of JCDecaux MX and the remaining 40% shares of such company will be owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary of AMX.

The closing of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including the approval of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission and is expected to close within 2017.

CMI is today actively involved in the street furniture, billboard and shopping mall advertising in Mexico, through the operation of advertising kiosks in Mexico City, bridge advertising concessions in many cities throughout Mexico, including Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey’s Metropolitan Areas, the Guadalajara Metrobus and well-known shopping malls located in Mexico City, mainly.

JCDecaux entered Mexico in 2014 with the acquisition of an 85% stake in Eumex, operating more than 10,000 street furniture advertising panels in 15 cities. On April 1st 2016, JCDecaux strengthened its position with the purchase of 100% of Outfront Media’s Mexican subsidiary, Vendor, operating almost 2,500 billboards and 750 bus routes in more than 350 cities across the 32 states in Mexico.

This alliance is expected to accelerate further developments in the 2nd largest advertising market in Latin American and 12th world economy with a population of approximately 122 million. With very complementary products and a strong footprint in Mexico City’s street furniture, CMI will strengthen JCDecaux’s value proposition to advertisers and cities in the very fragmented Mexican outdoor advertising segment. Total spend in out-of-home advertising reaches approximately 590 MUS$, which represents roughly 12% of the total advertising market and which growth is expected to speed up with digitalization of the assets. Through this new joint-venture, JCDecaux aims at being a major player of this change by implementing new digital OOH products and services in Mexico.

Arturo Elias Ayub, Head of Strategic Alliances and Multimedia for AMX, said: “We are proud to join forces with JCDecaux, the worldwide leader in outdoor advertising, by merging our Out-of-Home businesses in Mexico and enriching the  value proposition for our clients and partners. With a strengthened nationwide network coverage, our customers will benefit from an increased visibility for their campaigns on different displays and complementary formats. We are also proud to jointly participate in the development and reinvention of the OOH advertising industry in the country.”

Jean-Charles Decaux, Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “We are very pleased with this alliance with América Móvil. It will enable us to offer our clients a better geographical coverage, notably in Mexico City, in street furniture advertising and diversify our portfolio of assets with bridges and shopping malls. We are proud to continue benefiting residents and visitors through our innovative street-furniture assets and delivering valuable audiences to advertisers, thanks to the expertise and the great work of our teams. We also strongly believe that this partnership will pave the way to a jointly beneficial collaboration to answer present and future digitalization, connectivity and data challenges and, thus, allow us to be at the forefront of smart cities solutions to accelerate the development of Mexican cities and transport companies in the coming years.”