Informa In Play?

The Times is reporting that private equity groups including Carlyle and Apax are looking closely at Informa although no official bid has been made for the public company. From the article:

Carlyle and Apax are among those considering a bid for the group, which has a arket capitalisation of £1.64billion. No approaches are understood to have been made. Informa's shares have fallen almost 40 per cent since it announced the acquisition of Datamonitor for £502million in May last year amid widespread de-rating of Media stocks amid fears of an economic slowdown. Some analysts have raised concerns about Informa being hit by its high debt levels after the Datamonitor acquisition and partial dependence on the financial services sector.

Earlier this year, Informa has announced that David Gilbertson would resign as chief executive and from the board to take up the role of CEO at EMAP. EMAP has itself been purchased by a private equity group and the move by Gilbertson was a surprise. Together with now current CEO Peter Rigby they had built Informa into a the largest provider of Trade Shows in the world and a significant professional publishing company.