YPG Fills in Footprint

Yellow Pages Group announced today it is buying MTS Media, the directory unit of MTS Allstream, for C$281 million.

This is a healthy price for a business that generated C$42 million in revenues, but YPG is a motivated buyer, given its desire to be a truly national Yellow Pages player in Canada. MTS, along with DirectWest, was one of the telecom publishers standing between its eastern operations in Ontario and Quebec and its western operations in BC and Alberta.

This deal puts YPG a step closer to having a coast-to-coast operation, which has some scale advantages but is especially helpful in appealing to national advertisers and in creating a truly national digital footprint with YellowPages.ca, which has been newly upgraded and positioned as a search product.