Qatar Media in talks to invest in Malaysian firms

QATAR Media Services (QMS) is in talks to buy stakes in two Malaysian outdoor advertising companies and plans to wrap up the deals in the first quarter of next year.

Talks are at an advanced stage, said QMS managing director Hedi Smirani. He did not want to name the companies but said that one of them was a listed firm.

"We see tremendous growth and potential in this these companies that is why we are investigating these potential further with these companies," Smirani told reporters after the launch of QMS Asia Pacific in Kuala Lumpur (KL) yesterday.

QMS is the exclusive media representative for the Al-Jazeera Network. Its KL office is its Asia Pacific hub.

"KL serves as an excellent media hub for QMS Asia Pacific as Malaysia is one of the region's fastest developing nations with great investment opportunities especially in terms of media market potential growth," he said.

Smirani added that QMS Asia Pacific would focus on efforts to grow the company across the region, starting with countries in Southeast Asia such as in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.

It also has a network of media representatives in South Korea and Japan.

QMS Asia Pacific will be the gateway to the Middle East for Asian brands and will also grow along the distribution footprints for Al-Jazeera English.

He said the company aims to be a leading regional media partner leveraging on several platforms such as outdoor, print, online and television in markets like Australia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia in areas of media representation, media buying and consultancy services.

"Our aim is to capitalise on the tremendous expansion of Al-Jazeera English, by achieving 35 per cent year-on-year growth in advertising sales from the region and to double our current revenues by 2012," Smirani said.


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