Bertelsmann Interested in Reed Business

Reuters reports that Bertelsmann's magazine unit Gruner & Jahr maybe in the mix to acquire the RBI unit from Reed Elsevier. Reuters learned of the tip via a German newspaper. In the report, Reuters also notes that indications of interest for the RBI business unit have been received and offers range between £1.0bill and £1.25bill. If correct, this range appears to match Reeds initial expectations for the deal. Reuters expects final bids to be submitted in October. Followers of Bertelsman may recall they have created a sizable fund with some PE companies with the express view to make some large (or one very large) deal. They objective was to be able to participate in the bidding process for these large media deals and not be priced out by pure PE deals. As a case in point they were very interested in the Cengage auction last year and by some accounts came quite close.

Reuters