Bell Media has been directed to divest outdoor advertising signage in 669 locations in Quebec and the Greater Toronto Area as a condition of its acquisition of Outedge Media Canada. With the $410-million deal, which now has the consent of Canada’s Competition Bureau, Bell Media takes ownership of the U.S.-based real estate investment trust’s commercial billboard, transit and mobile assets in Canada, minus those it has been instructed to sell.

“This acquisition marks a significant milestone for Bell Media and solidifies our leadership position in the out-of-home space,” says Sean Cohan, president of Bell Media.

A statement from the Competition Bureau notes that Outedge and Bell had “vigorously competed” in the GTA, Greater Montréal, Québec City, Trois-Rivières and Sherbrooke markets with few other rival options available for advertisers. Single ownership of these assets is deemed detrimental to competitive pricing, particularly given municipal bylaws and permitting processes that constrain the development of new outdoor advertising displays.

Under terms of its agreement with Competition Bureau, Bell Media is to divest assets that are positioned to enable purchasers to “effectively compete” in the designated markets. “In designing the remedy, the Bureau considered the differences across Bell and Outedge’s outdoor assets,” it states.

For its part, Outedge’s parent, OUTFRONT Media, is retrenching in the United States. “The sale of our Canadian business illustrates the inherent value of our out-of-home assets, and will enable us to proactively reduce our financial leverage and also focus entirely on operating what is now a fully domestic business here in the United States,” says the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, Jeremy Male.