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Ocean gears up for expansion with stock market quote

Ocean Outdoor, which operates a number of premium UK digital poster sites, is floating on the London Stock Exchange. Ocean manages and markets the iconic Piccadilly Lights (below) in the heart of London and the huge IMAX screen near London’s Waterloo station among others.

It was bought for £200m by private equity firm Ocelot Partners in March last year (Ocelot was subsequently renamed Ocean Outdoor) and the company bought Scotland’s Forrest Media for £32m in June. Ocean was believed to have been interested in buying Exterion Media, which manages the London Underground Out of Home estate, but that went to new contender Global for an estimated £450m. Global, until then a radio business, also bought Primesight and Outdoor Plus.

Ocean CEO Tim Bleakley says: “The team is excited to have completed this process and to now be fully focussed on the future. We believe that our quoted status provides an ideal platform from which to accelerate our growth ambitions.

“Ocean performed well during 2018 whilst also successfully integrating Forrest Media into the Group. The enlarged group will deliver a compelling and impactful network of national urban audiences for advertisers. With a strong pipeline of new locations set to launch in the near term, we are positive on the outlook for 2019.”

Ocean has pioneered large digital sites in the UK by focusing on scarcity, scale, location, impact, advertiser relevance, smart technology and branding.

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