VNU Continues Takeover Talks

VNU, owner of ACNielsen and Nielsen Media Research, announced this morning that it is continuing 'active talks' with a private-equity consortium over a proposed buyout. The company's Supervisory and Executive Boards plan to give their view of the offer by the end of this month.

VNU announced earlier this month that it had received a proposal from the consortium, which consists of AlpInvest Partners, The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Permira Advisers, and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The consortium was proposing to buy VNU for EUR 28 to 28.50 per common share. More details are at www.mrweb.com/drno/news5048.htm

VNU's Boards discussed the consortium's proposal yesterday, and are now evaluating 'what course of action will serve the best interests of VNU's stakeholders'. They have retained the investment bank N M Rothschild & Sons to provide third-party advice. Last year, VNU abandoned plans to merge with IMS Health after objections from shareholders.

In December, VNU announced that it expects earnings per share and revenue growth for 2005 to fall below previous estimates, due to disappointing results in Europe, coupled with the costs of the aborted merger (www.mrweb.com/drno/news4954.htm ).

VNU is online at www.vnu.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

• Nielsen Media Research
• All news