PROVIDENCE – British equity firm Permira has joined Providence Equity Partners Inc. among the firms said to be courting trade magazine publisher Reed Business Information, according to the London Times.
RBI, the magazine arm of London-based Reed Elsevier, is the publisher of titles including New Scientist and Computer Weekly.
Sir Crispin Davis, the parent company’s chief executive, last month announced that Reed Elsevier would considering selling the magazine division. Investment analyst UBS has been retained by the company as its adviser in the transaction.
Industry analysts have pegged the likely price at $2 to $2.5 billion, Article Tools said. The offering has so far failed to attract interest from other trade publishers, such as United Business Media and Informa, the Times noted.
But the Guardian Media Group and Incisive Media owner Apax Partners reportedly are in discussions that may lead to a joint bid on RBI.
Such a joint bid would be nothing new for GMG and Apax, which recently teamed up in the $2 billion acquisition of Emap’s business-to-business arm and last year bought U.S.-based ALM for $630 million. The combination of the magazine division with the Emap’s publishing assets would offer obvious synergies, sources told the Times.
Cinven, Candover, CVC, Court Square Ventures (formerly Citigroup Venture Capital) and Bain Capital also are said to be considering bids for the publisher, the Times and Article Tools report.
Providence Equity Partners Inc. is a global private investment firm based in Providence, with offices in New York City, London, Hong Kong and New Delhi, that specializes in media, entertainment, communications and information companies. It has raised $21 billion through seven funds since its founding in 1989. Additional information is available at www.provequity.com.
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