MBC GROUP (‘MBC’), the largest and leading media company in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), announced today the completion of its acquisition of a minority equity stake in Al Arabia – Arabian Contracting Services company (‘Al Arabia’). Al Arabia is part of EHG, Engineer Holding Group, one of the most prominent Saudi media groups operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for over four decades.

The investment will support MBC’s growth in advertising sales in the Kingdom and enable Al Arabia to build out it’s ‘out of home’ advertising more broadly across the region. The parties intend to leverage this strategic partnership as a cornerstone for further development and expansion in the advertising sector.

The acquisition follows the recent announcement that MBC will be launching ‘MBC Media Services’, an in-house commercial advertising and sales unit in partnership with EHG. MBC Media Services will be majority controlled by MBC and will begin operations at the start of the new year. This new approach will allow MBC to work more closely with its clients, which include many of the world’s largest consumer brands, their marketing and advertising companies, and media buyers.

Waleed Al Ibrahim, Chairman MBC GROUP, said: “This important investment and partnership will allow MBC to broaden its advertising sales reach and deepen its penetration of the Saudi market. Our strategy, similar to many of the world’s leading media groups, is to continue adding offers and services to connect with audiences throughout the day across multiple platforms; and offer our advertising clients access to the most engaged regional consumers.”

Mohammed Alkhereiji, CEO of Al Arabia commented: “Our combined experience and assets will allow us to develop a broader and more impactful offering to our clients. Al Arabia’s objective, as the leading out of home platform in the region, is to continue introducing innovative media solutions by leveraging available technologies to capture promising opportunities across the region.”

Marc Antoine d’Halluin, Chief Executive Officer, MBC GROUP added: “Saudi Arabia remains a core growth market for MBC’s advertising sales and our strengthening relationship with Al Arabia will allow us to find new client relationships and to offer clients more integrated solutions. As the Kingdom continues to open as part of Saudi Vision 2030, we are confident more international companies will look to market their brands into this growing and vibrant economy and see MBC as their natural partner.”