• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 20, 2012

Van Wagner Communications, the largest privately held outdoor advertising company in the U.S., is getting even bigger with its acquisition of Fuel Outdoor Holdings. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
 
Fuel Outdoor owns wall mural advertising inventory in a number of cities nationwide, with major concentrations in New York, Dallas and Miami. It also has a 20-year municipal contract for street furniture advertising in Miami. The company installs and operates Metrolights panels, which consist of street-level shelter-sized advertising panels on private property in major cities.
 
Van Wagner chairman and CEO Richard M. Schaps said the Fuel acquisition would strengthen the company’s position in Miami, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, while bringing it to Dallas and Philadelphia for the first time.
 
A number of fuel personnel will join Van Wagner, and Fuel’s assets will be rebranded with the Van Wagner name.
 
This is not Van Wagner’s first acquisition this year.

In September, Van Wagner acquired blimp advertising operator Lightship Group -- the world’s largest -- which operates blimps with a unique internal lighting system, including one for DirecTV that features a giant LED video screen. The acquisition also included American Blimp Corp., which makes the blimps for Lightship. The acquisition augmented Van Wagner’s Aerial Media Group, which adds banner-towing airplanes.

A number of other outdoor companies are also bolstering their business through acquisitions. In July of this year, Lamar Advertising acquired American Outdoor Advertising, which owns 127 static and 30 digital billboards in and around Phoenix.