Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Reed's Loan to Buy Offer

The Telegraph is reporting that Reed Elsevier is facing such a problem selling Reed business that they are organizing a consortium to provide funding for a potential purchase. Initially, the company said it would sell the entire division (excluding the Exhibitions Group) then they annouced that they would consider separating the UK and US operations. Outside appearences indicate the sale isn't going quite as well as planned. Ultimately, the division will be sold but Reed may have to give up on their price expectations or consider further break-up scenarios.

If the current approach is succesful it could limit or slow down a potential buyers ability to carve up the company and sell off the pieces they don't want. Any potential buyer is likely to want to sell several properties in an effort to focus the group on a number of core industry segments that have already shown potential for electronic publishing. Any buyer taking advantage of this financing model to be as flexible as if they had negotiated the terms themselves and whether this is possible remains to be seen.

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