It was an expensive no.
A day after business-to-business publisher Informa plc rejected a cut-price 450-pence-per-share bid from a realigned grouping of Providence Equity Partners Inc. Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group LP, investors drove down its stock. By midafternoon Friday, shares were down 6.9%, at 386 pence.
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Providence, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman LLC had proposed a 506-pence-per-share offer in July, a month after Informa had held unsuccessful merger talks with peer United Business Media plc. That the firms were able to assemble the revised £3.13 billion ($5.6 billion) bid -- one of Europe's largest since the credit drought -- was no mean feat.
Various private equity suitors for Informa completed due diligence well over a month ago but have spent far longer in talks with banks to arrange financing.
The proposal Providence, Carlyle and Blackstone came up with is based on financing from 14 banks led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which were prepared to offer a package of 5.1 times Informa's Ebitda of £298 million. Informa's management thinks it's worth more, but its stockholders disagree. - Laura Board
