Informa shuns private equity bid

Informa shares

Publisher Informa's shares fell by nearly 6% on Friday after it rebuffed a reduced takeover bid from a consortium.

Informa said the offer by Carlyle Group, Providence Equity Partners and Blackstone of 450p a share significantly undervalued the company.

Informa had previously received a 506p takeover deal in July which valued the company at £2.15bn.

United Business Media ended merger talks with Informa in June after it failed to agree the terms of a deal.

Shares in the publishers of Lloyds List maritime newspaper - and 2,000 other trade publications - were trading down 5.8% at 390.50p at 1115 BST.

Shake-up

The consortium team bidding for Informa recently underwent an overhaul, with Blackstone replacing fellow US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman.

Informa's chief executive, Peter Rigby, said the interest in the company "demonstrated the attractiveness of the company's business model [and] the quality of its assets and people".

The weaker economic climate has made trading conditions for publishers much tougher as consumers tighten their belts and rein in non-essential spending.

As a result, media firms have been looking to consolidate.

Despite the difficult times, Informa has said that it is trading in line with its expectations.

"Informa has attractive future prospects and is continuing to deliver growth across the business even in the face of a weaker economic environment," said chairman Derek Mapp.

Informa owns 2,000 trade publications and operates in 40 countries. It also organises some 10,000 business conferences each year.

Interest

There has been much interest in Informa in the past months and United Business Media - whose titles include Property Week - had been mulling a merger.

Talks between the two companies were ended in June after they failed to agree terms for a deal.

A tie-up between the two would have created a publishing empire with a value of £3bn.