Smedvig Capital, the development capital house, has sold Ocean Outdoor, the leading operator of ‘Digital Out of Home’ advertising sites, to mid-market private equity house, LDC.
Over the last four years, Ocean has grown rapidly, increasing revenue more than 3 fold and become the clear leader in iconic, large format digital and banner advertising locations with its name firmly established within the outdoor market. Last year, it won Silver in the annual Media Week, Media Brand of the Year, coming second only to Google/You Tube.
Smedvig first invested in Ocean in 2008, taking a majority stake through the injection of capital to allow the company to grow rapidly in the large format iconic market, with particular focus on digital. Smedvig hired key senior team members including Chairman Tom Goddard, a former CEO of the International Division of CBS Outdoor, one of the world’s leading media outdoor companies, and CEO Tim Bleakley, a former UK Managing Director of CBS Outdoor.
Tim Bleakley, Ocean’s CEO, says: “The whole team is very proud of everything that we have achieved and continue to achieve at Ocean. We have all enjoyed greatly working closely with Smedvig Capital. Their experience, analytical rigour and constant support has been invaluable to Ocean’s successful development.”
Johnny Hewett, Chief Executive of Smedvig Capital, says: “We are of course very pleased with the financial outturn of the Ocean investment making nearly 4x invested capital in four years. More than that, it has been a great privilege to work with Tom, Tim and the whole of the Ocean team who have done an outstanding job in creating a clear leader in their targeted space. We look forward to watching them continue to thrive.”