COLITE OUTDOOR

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Colite Outdoor, LLC                 

Colite Outdoor, LLC has been acquired by Top Media Holdings S.A. of Panamá City, Panamá. Sperry, Mitchell & Company initiated this transaction, assisted in the negotiations, and served as exclusive financial advisor to Colite Outdoor.

 

Overview

Colite Outdoor, LLC (“Colite”) is the largest outdoor advertising company in Central America. With an inventory of over 500 large-format display faces strategically positioned throughout Central America’s most populated areas and heavily traveled roadways, Colite provides advertisers with the most extensive market coverage in the region. The company’s clients include Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Reebok, Visa, Pizza Hut, Levi’s, Toyota, Unilever, Pepsi, Citibank, and Procter & Gamble.

Top Media Holdings (www.topmedia.com.pa) is the leading out-of-home advertising company in Panamá. Top Media offers advertisers a variety of high-impact advertising options, such as billboards, banners, and airport & shopping center displays.
 

Situation

  • Colite was founded in 1999 by two brothers who owned and operated a large sign-manufacturing business in South Carolina. They recognized an opportunity to establish a professionally-managed outdoor advertising operation in Central America. Thus, they founded Colite with the intent of growing the business to a certain critical mass and then selling it. With the brothers’ capital and market knowledge, the company quickly established itself and won business from a host of major consumer product advertisers.
  • We were chosen in 2007 to advise Colite in a potential sale transaction based on a long-standing relationship with Colite’s owners.
  • Colite’s revenue suffered during the Great Recession, as advertising budgets were drastically cut. We advised the owners to pull the company from the falling market and instead focus on stabilizing and growing the company. We additionally encouraged them to re-engage the market when the climate was healthier and the company could once again present a compelling story.
  • The owners were focused on generating the highest return, and they patiently worked with us over the ensuing years to get the business to a point where it could once again generate a premium price.

Sperry Mitchell Solution

  • We are committed to finding our clients the right buyer at the best price. Our working relationship with Colite lasted nearly eight years from the time of our initial engagement to the transaction’s eventual closing. After we initially marketed the company, we focused on a small group of strategic buyers that were interested in expanding into Central America. We then worked with these buyers over an extended period, to allow them to understand and appreciate Colite’s premier market position. After demonstrating the company’s improved performance, we negotiated with a limited number of serious buyers until Top Media emerged with a superior offer. Neither we nor our client anticipated the process taking so long. However, once we commit to a client, we work on their behalf until we find the right buyer and the right deal for them, however long it takes.