Informa Approached by New Suitor

In the UK, Datamonitor-owner Informa has received a new takeover approach from a private equity consortium, possibly led by one or other of corporate investment companies Blackstone or Hg Capital. The firm announced a steep revenue rise yesterday, but also a fall in pre-tax profits.

The firm said today in a regulatory statement that it has yet to receive a formal bid proposal from the interested party, and that it is currently providing the organisation with access to information.

Meanwhile, discussions continue with an existing consortium of private equity firms, which made a provisional £2.15bn pound (US$4.29bn) takeover offer in June, following news that United Business Mediahad pulled out of earlier talks.

'Discussions continue with Providence Equity, The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman and there can be no certainty to the terms of any offer, nor whether any offer will be made,' Informa added.

Informa shares closed up 13 pence, or 3.1%, at 437 pence after news of the approach, giving it a market capitalization of about £1.86bn.

Yesterday, the firm announced a 32% fall in pre-tax profits in the first six months of the year. While the group said that trading was strong, reporting an 18% rise in revenue to £627.6m, it said profit fell from £87.8m last year to £60m due to high amortisation costs associated with the acquisition of Datamonitor in 2007. Datamonitor reported a rise of more than 40% in profit during the first half of 2008.

Web sites: www.informa.com and www.datamonitor.com .

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

• Informa Research Services
• All news
• MrWeb info