Hellman and Friedman part of Informa bid consortium

24 June 2008

London: Private equity players, under advice from American private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC have decided to participate in the consortium bid for the UK-based exhibitions group, Informa plc.

Informa had previously been approached by a private equity consortium led by Providence Equity Partners, after it snubbed £3.4-billion merger talks with rival United Business Media., along with Providence Equity and the Carlyle Group. (See: Providence private equity group tries for Informa after merger talks with UBM fall through)

In a statement, Providence has reiterated that there is no certainty of an offer being made, nor are the terms for an offer any more certain. "Funds advised by Hellman & Friedman LLC are also participating in the consortium,'' a statement by Providence Equity and Carlyle read. ``There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor the terms on which any offer would be made.''

Press reports over the past couple of days have said that ?1.8 billion worth of financing is in place from banks including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and ING, which will help fund a bid of around 500 pence per share. At that price, Informa would be valued at ?2.1 billion.

Informa had issued a statement around confirming the receipt of an approach from a third party that "may or may not lead to a takeover offer in cash being made for the company", while saying that it was no longer talking to UBM, as they could not agree on terms. In 2006, Informa turned rebuffed a 630 pence a share offer from German publishing group Springer, which is owned by private equity firms Cinven and Candover. Both are linked to a renewed bid for the group.

Private equity interest in Informa has been heightened by its marginal dependence on advertising, and its fast growing events, conferences and exhibitions businesses, though there is some concern over the level of Informa's debt. However, analysts say that a possible merger with Candover and Cinven owned Springer could create obvious cost synergies.