African Update
Global Outdoor Sold To Sapro a Congolese Advertising firm for $ 50 million
C ongolese group , S a p r o h a s positioned itself to become a continental advertising player after acquiring South Africa ' s billboard advertising giant , Global Outdoor Systems ( GOS ).
The buyout , brokered by R M B C o r v e s t , w a s completed in December last year and was expected to remain under wraps until after Paul Obambi , CEO and founder of Sapro , had ended his tour of GOS ' s f a c i l i t i e s a r o u n d t h e continent .
An estimated $ 50 million surprise buyout offer for GOS , which operates in 16 African countries across Africa and manages about 6000 billboards , saw Sapro outdo several contenders .
Sapro is considered among the country ' s largest private c o m p a n i e s , o u t s i d e Republic of Congo ' s oil sector .
Before extending its reach t o S o u t h A f r i c a , t h e
company , which also owns billboard a n d p r i n t i n g g r o u p - M e d i a International - was already present in six countries .
Competing bidders for the billboard and advertising group included international giants like Lamar Advertising , Clear Channel and JCDecaux , which succeeded its 2015 buyout bid for Continental Outdoor , one of GOS ' s serious competitors
All State Media director Gitonga Wathanga says it has entered into contracts with various clients to market and promote their goods and services through various advertising forums . He says it leased street poles and other sites owned , controlled and managed by the county government to enable it advertise , market and promote its clients ' products . “ The actions of the county government are in bad faith , procedurally improper , in breach of the agreements and in disregard of the law ,” Wathanga said .
Since the buyout , the Sapro group had been touring countries where their new business are and was in Nigeria recently , where it met the LASSA MD , Mr . Sanusi Bolaji .
African Update
Total Kenya forced to pull down offending advertisement
Total Kenya was bashed on social media for cutting down trees to make way for an environmental friendly advertisement
– The move was bashed for being ironical and insensitive as the oil marketer was damaging the very environment it purports to care about . Barely a day after the outrage , Total Kenya has since pulled down the advertisement
Oil marketer Total Kenya has bowed to pressure and brought down an advertisement it had erected in its bid to demonstrate how it promotes a clean and safe environment .
The move was deemed ironical since Total Kenya is an ambassador of planting more tree in the country yet condoned the cutting down of the same to achieve a marketing objective .
“ Total Kenya should be more responsible . On one hand they create Tree Ambassadors through Total Eco Challenge yet on the other they allow trees to be cut down for their adverts . You must include conditions in contracts with Advertising agencies ,” said Isaac Kalua , newly chairman of water towers agency , on his Facebook page .
This comes a day after a government official took to social media to bash Total Kenya for cutting down trees so its advertisement that had been erected on a billboard can be seen clearly .
The Monday March , 14 , update invited an uproar from Kenyans who follow the environmentalist . They lashed out at Total Kenya for what was viewed as irresponsible business practices .
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