The deal, first reported in BtoB Media Business, is understood to include the magazines Control Engineering, EDN, Design News, Packaging Digest and Test & Measurement World.

If the sale goes ahead, it would be the second RBI divestment in the space of a month. At the beginning of February, RBI sold ten of its Asian B2B publications for an undisclosed sum to Ten Alps, the multimedia production house founded by Bob Geldolf. RBI’s U.S. CEO John Poulin warned in a memo in December, first reported by paidContent, that it would be closing down magazines in the first half of this year if buyers for them were not found (Video Business, MBT (Manufacturing Business Technology) and Industrial Distribution were the first of these in January.)

Canon Communications has built a business around trade events. But like other events organisers, it could be looking to pick up publishing assets—some currently at bargain prices—to grow that events business. This strategy, however, can prove tricky, as the closure earlier this week of Terrapinn’s Total Telecom, and the RBI divestments themselves demonstrate.

Canon’s most recent acquisition, in October, was the purchase of three Canadian trade shows: PACKEX, Plast-Ex and EXPOPLAST. It also owns and operates Electronics West, PlastecWest and WestPack.