Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Informa Bid Tops $4.3Billion

Informa announced this morning (via Reuters) they are considering a $4.3Bill private equity bid for the company from a consortium led by Providence Equity partners, The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman. The bid is established at 506 pence per share and the Informa share price rose by 12% its largest gain in two years, however the current price (423 pence) is still far below the offer price. The company stressed that discussions are at an early stage and that there can be no certainty of a bid being accepted.

If this bid is successful it will be the largest PE play since the markets froze earlier this year. Analysts have suggested this deal has more likelihood of being completed because the company can be broken into its constituent parts and sold off relatively easily. This mitigates some of the inherent risk in the deal.

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