John Singleton cashes in with Sydney airport billboards sale

Advertising magnate John Singleton is hoping to reap more than $60 million from the sale of 17 billboards around Sydney Airport, cashing in on the rising number of tourists and the residential boom in the area.

Mr Singleton's company, Manboom, co-owned by property developer Robert Whyte and previously by Kerry Packer, will also sell a 9000 square metre parcel of land as part of the deal.

Billboards at Sydney airport.Credit: Anna Kucera.

There is a proposal to build an 11-storey mixed use site of serviced apartments, hotels or even park and fly service.

The sale comes as the area around the airport is experiencing strong growth with new residential apartments and retail giants such as Ikea moving into South Sydney. Ikea has the largest site in the Southern Hemisphere at Tempe, on the south side of the airport precinct.

Mascot is also expanding its hotel footprint with a range of new operators and developers opening new sites.

According to Sydney Airport, there are close to 43 million visitors per year with that number projected to increase. Until a second airport is constructed it is also the largest freight airport in the country.

Mr Singleton is also a part owner of the Entertainment Quarter in Sydney's Moore Park with Harvey Norman chief executive Gerry Harvey and Mark Carnegie, which is also in the throes of a $500 million redevelopment push. It has been suggested that some of the funds from the billboards sale could flow to the Moore Park site.

The billboards are leased to the listed oOh!Media and can generate lucrative rent for the owners upwards of $550,000 a year.

According to recent data, the out of home advertising sector achieved the highest growth in the market with a 6.5 per cent increase. Within this, digital signboards were the fastest-growing sector.

Manboom, a company owned by John Singleton and Robert Whyte are selling 17 billboards at Sydney Airport

Potential buyers are expected to be developers or private investors. The main competitor to Manboom is JCDecaux, which also specialises in outdoor and street furniture advertising.

Agents on the sale, Savills Australia's Neil Cooke and Stuart Cox and Colliers International's Matthew Meynell, James Cowan and Trent Gallagher, declined to comment, as did a representative of Manboom.