The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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Reed to offer loan to magazine buyers

04.07.08

Reed Elsevier has been forced to offer a loan to would-be buyers of its £1bn-plus business magazines division in an attempt to kick-start an auction of the unit behind Farmers Weekly and Publishers Weekly, notes the Times.

This week the electronic information giant began to send out non-disclosure agreements for interested parties to sign after it managed to arrange enough loans that could be used by a potential buyer. However, it could not persuade banks to provide enough financing that would be attractive to a private equity group - by far the most likely buyer of the business. It has been forced to offer its own top-up loan to sweeten the deal.

Reed has been trying for several weeks to arrange a financing package to begin an auction process that was first announced in February.

The Times

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