Continuing, Casella - now CEO of his Case Interactive Media investor - told our moderator and ContentNext publisher Rafat Ali that RBI isn’t a perfect acquisition right now: “It’s logical that you’d (have to) be looking to buy events to go along with the company since exhibitions don’t come with the property.” Could it be broken up? “I think there’s a very good possibility there’s certain assets (buyers) want to focus on and others they want to dispose of. A new owner is going to want to follow a more focused strategy; I think there will be disposals.”

B2B publishers have been in-play for M&A this year, but are clearly getting munched by the credit crunch. The leading bid for Lloyd’s List publisher Informa also collapsed in September after the consortium of private equity houses in the hunt found itself unable to raise the extra cash for Informa’s asking price. Asked about last year’s Thomson-Reuters merger, though, Vanity Fair media columnist Michael Wolff told our event: “This was one of deals that, even in this environment, would’ve happened.”