Outdoor media JCDecaux has called out a recent article on The Australian Financial Review claiming it was the frontrunner for the coveted City of Sydney contract.
The AFR published an article last week saying that a joint bid by JCDecaux and Telstra would be the likely winner of the contract, with the City of Sydney refining its requirements and requesting re-submissions in July last year.
The article said JCDecaux global chairman and co-chief executive Jean-Francois Decaux had made renewing the contract it has held since 1977 “a top priority”, and had been personally working with the Australian team to ensure the company secured the contract.
However, JCDecaux issued a statement this morning saying it had taken notice of the AFR article, which was also relayed in some financial analyst’s notes, and called it out for being “innacurate”, noting that the outdoor giant hadn’t even submitted a bid for the contract.
“JCDecaux is surprised by this information and other related information which is inaccurate, since JCDecaux has made the decision not to submit any bid proposal under the current tender terms.”
It has been speculated for some time that JCDecaux was making a joint play for the contract with Telstra, which is estimated to be worth $500 million.
