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Blackstone Joins Bid; Informa Price to Fall?
In the UK, private equity firm Blackstone has joined a consortium comprising the Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners, which is bidding for Informa, the owner of Datamonitor. Reports speculate that the offer price is about to drop substantially.
Blackstone initially formed a rival bidding group with the Investment Corporation of Dubai, but joined Providence and Carlyle when Dubai pulled out of the partnership.
The consortium first approached Informa about the buy-out in June, when the offer price was 506 pence per share, or a total of £2.15bn ($3.8bn).
However, industry sources quoted by Reuters and others today say this price is now considered too high, and a figure of 440 or 450 pence per share - amounting to £1.87bn - would be more appropriate.
Carlyle and Providence are believed to have secured financing for the deal from a group of around 12 banks which will provide a loan of about £1.5bn ($2.7 billion).
Earlier today, Informa reiterated in a statement to the London Stock Exchange that there can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor the terms on which any offer would be made. Its shares dropped 7% to 418.75 pence per share in morning trading.
Web site: www.informa.com .
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