Informa looking at Springer S+BM
Jinfo Blog
30th November 2009
Item
Informa â publisher of Lloydâs List and owner of Datamonitor â is considering making a bid for the academic publisher Springer Science + Business Media. Following press speculation, Informa has issued a statement confirming that it is discussing a possible takeover with the shareholders and is currently carrying out due diligence. However it goes on to say that there can be âno certaintyâ agreement will be reached with the shareholders â principally two private equity firms Cinven and Candover â on terms that are acceptable to Informaâs board (http://digbig.com/5basaj). Meanwhile Reuters has reported analysts as saying that Informa will need another, much bigger, equity injection to fund any purchase, and describes the prospect as ârisky but appealingâ (http://digbig.com/5basak). The deal could create a âglobal giantâ with obvious synergies, Reuters comments, with one analyst saying that the vendors have few options and need to refinance the business. Informa itself has recently undergone significant upheaval to help it offset debts incurred partly as a result of its acquisition of Datamonitor (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e20022), but last year appears to have bucked the trend among business-to-business publishers by reporting âstrongâ results for 2008 (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e16896). Not to be confused with the German newspaper and magazine publisher Axel Springer (as paidContent:UK helpfully points out â http://digbig.com/5basam), Springer Science + Business Media describes itself as a âleading global scientific publisherâ (http://digbig.com/5basan). However it actually publishes around 100 journals in its economics and statistics portfolio as well, including titles such as Economic Theory, the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty and the International Journal of Game Theory (http://digbig.com/5basap). Two of the analysts in the Reuters report comment that academic and scientific publishing is one of the more resilient revenue streams in these troubled times for publishing. Whether this would enable Informa to continue to escape the worst of the fate currently befalling the B2B market remains to be seen.About this article
- Blog post title: Informa looking at Springer S+BM
- Link to this page
- View printable version
What's new at Jinfo?
Vendor adoption of AI
Community session
23rd May 2024
AI prompting and AI-sourcing, US private companies, and Jinfo on YouTube
Blog posting
10th April 2024
April 2024 Update
YouTube video
10th April 2024
- AI prompting and AI-sourcing, US private companies, and Jinfo on YouTube
10th April 2024 - AI practical actions, prompting and outsourcing
6th March 2024 - GenAI and ESG wisdom of the Jinfo crowd
13th February 2024
- Jinfo Community session (TBC) (Community) 16th July 2024
- Jinfo Community session (TBC) (Community) 20th June 2024
- Vendor adoption of AI (Community) 23rd May 2024
Learn more about the Jinfo Subscription