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Wendel is open to takeover offers for Editis, France's second largest publisher, but announced no deal as yet when it released its 2007 results on Thursday.
Several French and European groups have shown "serious interest" in the group, and offered "solid financial" backing, according to Wendel CEO Jean-Bernard Lafonta. "We are looking at it in detail", he added.
He declined to be drawn on the number or identities of current potential takers, but said finance was only one element that would be taken into account. Others included strategy for developing digitisation, acquiring more small publishers in France and building on the book distribution business through Interforum.
Editis reported an 18% increase in sales to 93.1 million euros last year, driven mainly by fiction and education, and an 18% increase in net profit to 48.9 million euros. Internal growth stood at 2.5%, which was higher than the French book market had achieved, Lafonta said.
Over the months, four companies are understood to have made overtures to Wendel: RCS and Mondadori of Italy, Média Participations of France and Planeta of Spain. One analyst, who declined to be named, said that Wendel would possibly shed its subsidiary at a good price, but "has no need to sell at a discount". He added that two of the four are serious contenders at the moment, Planeta and Média Participations.