Toronto-based Bensimon-Byrne/ DMB&B and New York-based TeleVest Inc. have formed a new standalone media management company.

The Toronto agency’s media department has been spun off as an independent division called TeleVest Canada. It is headed by President Sherland Forde, long-time DMB&B executive vice-president and media director, who now reports directly to TeleVest in New York.

TeleVest Canada reports annual billings of more than $100 million from a client roster that includes Procter & Gamble, Effem Foods, Blockbuster Video, Philips, Paramount Home Video, the Australian Tourist Commission and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Both B-B/DMB&B and TeleVest Inc., the largest broadcast media-buying agency in the u.s., are units of global holding company, The MacManus Group.