The Wall Street Journal and WARC have published articles that a formal $8.58bn cash bid for Dutch media and research giant VNU which owned BuzzMetrics could be made today by a seven-strong group of private equity investment firms. Here’s WARC’s snapshot:
Prominent among the latter is Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the US private equity group whose ravening takeover methods were immortalized in 1990 by the best-selling book Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco.
Four other US firms - Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman and Thomas H Lee Partners - are participating in the bid, as are UK-based Permira Advisers and AlpInvest Partners of the Netherlands.
For well over a month the septet have conducted due diligence, reportedly with a fine toothcomb. Insiders say they are ready to bid up to €28.50 a share with a formal move tabled today. However, lips are zipped both in the consortium and VNU camps.
TAGS: VNU
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