Several of the world's largest buyout firms are reportedly considering a counter bid for media company Informa Plc, UK.
At a recently held function, dealmakers from KKR, Blackstone and Permira openly talked about how the firms may make an offer for Informa to rival the 506 pence-per-share approach submitted by Providence, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman. The function was held by private equity investor Alpinvest Partners in London. Informa confirmed that it had received the offer from this consortium of buyout firms at the beginning of the month. Their offer valued the trade fairs and scientific journals business at £3.4 billion including debt, which stood at net £1.25 billion at the end of 2007.
Permira has already shown an interest in buying B2B publishing assets, which are seen to offer a higher share of annually renewed subscription revenues than most consumer-facing media companies. If the buyout group decides to pursue Informa, it is expected Lord Hollick is likely to lead any bid as he already has significant expertise in the sector. Meanwhile, there is also speculation that funds from the Gulf could reignite their interest in buying some or all of the company.
If the proposed 506 pence deal goes ahead, it would be one of the world's largest private equity takeovers since the credit markets seized up last year.
