Media firm Informa, UK, has reportedly announced that it has ended talks to acquire German academic publisher Springer Science + Business Media. According to an Informa statement, the board has concluded after detailed consideration that the current environment is not conducive to making such a significant acquisition in the timescale required by the vendors. Springer is owned by private equity (PE) firms Candover and Cinven.
The withdrawal, days after the publisher was considering a takeover, clears the way for Swedish PE firm EQT, which according to senior bankers is lining up a more than billion-pound loan to fund a deal.
Springer Science + Business Media, valued at around €2.6 billion including debt, was put up for sale earlier this year by its owners. It is believed that Informa was looking to take the whole company for €400 million, as imminent debt maturities made Candover and Cinven lower their price tag. But the company has now walked away from the sale.
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