Reed Elsevier’s troubled attempt to sell-off its UK B2B division Reed Business Information appears to be in big trouble with the news that bids for the company since August have fallen about a half-billion dollars, according to Bloomberg. Two unidentified sources close to the deal told the news service the bids have dropped to about $1.7 billion (£97 million £1.08 billion) from $2.3 billion (£1.3 billion). The company has struggled to attract the financing needed to seal the deal since the sale was announced in February. Merrill Lynch analyst Paul Sullivan said in a note that the risk of the sale “being delayed or falling through has clearly increased”.
The markets were unimpressed and shares in Reed Elsevier (NYSE: RUK) dipped 6.4 percent to 468.25 pence at 1.34pm in London trading today, its lowest value since February 2004.
Three PE firms remain in the third round of bidding — Bain Capital LLC, Apollo Management and a combined group of TPG Inc and DLJ Merchant Banking — and seven banks are prepared to put in $900 million (£515 million) to finance the deal while Reed itself is set to put in about $330 million (£189 million). So it is still possible that a deal can be reached, but the finance shortfall, reportedly around $180 million (£102.6 million), must remain a problem at a time when banks are reluctant to invest or even lend big money.
Your coverage of this deal is pathetic. Please tell me that your business model is something more than reading real reporters articles and then regurgitating what they say by moving their words around.
You must have at least one original thought in your tiny little head, mustn't you? Somewhere in there? Maybe?
Naaaa
Then, to top it off, you can't even copy the words correctly. Read your first sentence you moron. You wrote "half-million" when I hope you know it should read "billion".
Time to get your old job back at Starbucks you looser.
Having a bad day, sporto, are you? Hope you weekend was better…thanks for correcting the error, btw.
Rafat,
I'm afraid that Sporto is right here. Your coverage of the RBI sale has been dreadful. It has involved paraphrasing others' reporting – and then claiming that this paraphrasing was visionary.
Don't worry about it though – I don't think even proper journalists have got this one right. The FT has only recently reported that RE absolutely HAVE to sell RBI. Doesn't matter what the price is, and the price is no indicator of the old media market in general – but has everything to do with RE's debt profile.
Perhaps there is a story here – perhaps you can be bothered to get off your ass and write it. I predict a sale within 2 weeks.