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Marketing Week: one of eight weeklies |
The business-to-business market is bracing itself for a bidding war over Centaur Communications, whose business magazine titles include Marketing Week and The Lawyer.
The company has invited bids from interested parties and, despite the depressed state of the B2B sector, the stage is set for a mighty scrap.
Emap, the biggest B2B publisher, has admitted it might launch a bid: "We're looking at it," said Derek Carter, chief executive officer of Emap's B2B division. "I think there are some very interesting assets and you would expect Emap to be running the rule over it carefully."
Centaur's portfolio of eight weekly titles also includes New Media Age and Design Week.
Other interested parties include Lord Hollick's United Business Media and the rapidly expanding Incisive Media, run by Tim Weller.
The publishers, however, are likely to face competition from venture capitalists, who have become a growing force.
The likes of HgCapital would also have the B2B history and financial clout to buy Centaur, which employs 600 staff.
While Emap is seen by many as the favourite, Weller, a former director of Centaur's legal and financial magazines, is another likely contender. Incisive Media has already massively increased in size this year with the £30m plus purchase of the Risk Waters group in April.
Weller refused to be drawn on whether Incisive is interested in pursuing Centaur, but said: "We are a growth company. We look at a range of opportunities."
Although seen for some time as an attractive company to purchase, the timing of CEO and part owner Graham Sherren's move to invite bidders is something of a surprise, considering the difficult advertising climate in the B2B sector - the worst hit of any in media.
But private investment company Veronis Suhler, which owns a large slice of the publisher, is thought to be keen to progress the sale.
HgCapital bought the Lloyds of London Press in 1995, later selling its interest in the company, which was floated on the Stock Exchange and became Informa - itself mentioned as a possible buyer of Centaur this week.
The company, along with Incisive, was one of two final bidders left fighting for the FT Business titles, which were put up for sale by Pearson in a deal which collapsed last year.
One venture capitalist said: "If there is a determined trade publisher with large synergies with Centaur, then it will be difficult for private equity companies. But the reality is that Emap would probably like some of the Centaur titles, UBM would probably like others and Reed would like others. The question is if any of them want to buy the whole lot."
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