Carlyle unit Asia Group Capital announced it will invest 20 mln usd in China's Time Share Advertising and Communications, an outdoor advertising company.

Time Share has received the 20 mln usd and the two companies have another preliminary agreement for Carlyle to invest 30 mln usd more if the partnership goes well "in the near future."

Wayne Tsou, Managing Director and Head of Carlyle's Asia Growth Capital Group, said at the ceremony that Carlyle Asia is looking at all industries with exceptional growth potential in mainland China, and a series of new investment plans will be announced soon. He said Time Share is the group's second investment in China's media and advertisement industry. The first was Focus Media.

Tsou said Carlyle is confident about the growing advertising and media sector, with outdoor advertising increasing by an average 20 pct annually in the last five years.

Time Share was founded in June 2005 and is China's first outdoor media company, providing low-cost advertising using outdoor billboard space across the country.

A Carlyle statement said Time Share can halve the cost of billboard advertising by providing a single contact point for contract negotiation and media placement at over 80 pct of outdoor billboards nationwide, compared to the traditional year-long, single-location contracts.

Source:佚名