Mediaquest Corp has acquired both the publishing and events divisions of Gray Business Communications (GBC) in a multi-million dirhams deal.

The deal, inked this week and taking effect from January 2, 2008 adds a number of respected brands to the Mediaquest portfolio including Gulf Marketing Review, GMR-Online, Al Tasweeq Al Arabi and RaceWeek. In addition, Mediaquest takes a number of specialist sports publications apart from the GBC Events division.

Mediaquest, headed by Alexandre and Julien Hawari, has an established stable of publications comprising Communicate, Trends, Saneou Al Hadath and Shaheen. The group also includes Medialeader, the media representation division and data management division, ‘Quest Communications’.

Already one of the largest publishers in the region, with some 14 titles in three different languages, Mediaquest Corp has reported 40 per cent business growth during 2007 and forecasts significantly higher growth during 2008 with the recent acquisition of the additional titles from GBC.

Alexandre Hawari, Co-CEO of Mediaquest Corp. confirmed GBC director, Barry Gray will move to Mediaquest on a consultative basis to aid the integration of the business and to support future developments of the company.

Barry Gray (left), closes the deal with Julien Hawari (middle) and Alexandre Hawari, co-CEOs of Mediaquest Corp. - TradeArabia News Service