Euromoney target for £1.6billion takeover

PRIVATE equity firms are considering a £1.6billion swoop on Euromoney, the FTSE 250 media and events group.

Euromoney’s management, led by chief executive Andrew Rashbass, is understood to have responded to enquiries from at least ‘two or three’ private equity investors in the past fortnight about taking the company private, according to City sources.

Any bid would be the latest in a frenzy of recent deals in the information services and events sector. Prospective buyers could include KKR, Hellman & Friedman and BC Partners, which have previously invested in the sector, one source added.

Several private equity funds have explored the opportunity of buying Euromoney before, only to be turned off by its share price. But a source said: ‘Before, they would have had to pay a bigger premium to take it off the market. Now the share price is so low, it is much more affordable.’

Coronavirus brought the events industry to an abrupt halt in 2020, and shares in Euromoney remain 16 per cent below their pre-pandemic levels. But operating profits at the group, which publishes the Euromoney financial magazine, jumped by 16 per cent to £40.2 million for the six months to the end of May 2022, driven by increased subscriptions for its data services and a recovery in the events industry.

Any bid would probably need to be in excess of £1.6billion – a 40 per cent premium to the market value – to pique the interest of shareholders, one banker said. But he cautioned that private equity players could struggle to secure financing against the wider market backdrop.