Quadrant Private Equity is to exit outdoor advertising company QMS Media, selling the business to Nine Entertainment (ASX: NEC) for $850 million.
The deal will generate a net return on investment of more than 100% for Quadrant which bought QMS for $420 million in 2020.
Nine’s acquisition is part of a strategic refocusing of assets by Australia’s largest media company, away from television and radio toward what it terms “digital growth businesses”.
Alongside the acquisition of QMS, Nine is selling its Australian radio stations to the pubs-owning Laundy family for $56 million and entering into a transaction to convert its Newcastle-based NBN Television business from a wholly owned asset to an affiliate to be owned by Wollongong-based television company WIN, majority owned by Bermuda-based Bruce Gordon. This will generate a $14.8 return from WIN. NBN will still broadcast Nine Network television programs under contract for a minimum of five years.
Announcing the deals on 30 January, Nine said: “These transactions reinforce Nine’s strategic focus on structural growth, scale and diversification of the group’s revenue base, particularly through the expansion of its digital footprint. Together, this will step-change Nine from a business where growth assets accounted for 45% of revenue in the 2025 financial year to more than 60% by the 2027 financial year.
“The combination of outdoor, streaming & broadcast, and publishing delivers unprecedented reach, sustained frequency and impact, enabling brands to engage audiences with relevance and authority throughout their day …”
“Nine’s multi-platform scale, and relationships with key agencies and clients, is expected to provide QMS with the ability to access incremental advertising dollars through combined agency deals and bundling, as well as enhanced access to Nine’s direct clients.”
Nine chief executive Matt Stanton said he was confident about buying an additional business that relied on advertising spend because the electronic billboards offered by QMS provided exclusive multi-location delivery points that would be difficult for large technology companies to disrupt. Nine would also be able to use the QMS billboards to promote its own digital services including its newspaper mastheads and streaming platform Stan.
QMS currently holds around 15% of the Australian outdoor advertising market and has indicated 2026 calendar year revenue of around $400 million. Nine expects integrating QMS into its operations will realise significant cost savings, possibly as much as $20 million annually by 2029.
QMS operates electronic billboards in Sydney, Melbourne Brisbane, Canberra and Auckland. This includes a contract with the Sydney City Council under which QMS billboards are integrated into street furniture and council-licensed kiosks.
Formerly an ASX-listed company, QMS was acquired by Quadrant in early 2020 for $420 million. The private equity firm has invested in the business since then, including financing acquisitions.
In 2021, Quadrant separated advertising technology division TGI Sport from QMS and sold an unspecified stake to New York-based Bruin Sports Capital, reportedly for around $100 million. That deal followed a series of acquisitions made by QMS over the prior two years that had made TGI Sport a significant technology-led sports enterprise.
In April 2025 QMS moved to 100% ownership of New Zealand business MediaWorks acquiring a 45.13% stake held by Oaktree Capital. QMS held a 40% stake in MediaWorks at the time of Quadrant’s acquisition. MediaWorks operates ten radio stations and has a substantial outdoor advertising business comprising, at the time of acquiring Oaktree’s stake, 92 digital and 200 static billboards.
Image: A QMS electronic billboard integrated into a Sydney City Council licensed kiosk.