Informa rejects £1.9bn private equity approach

The Informa chairman, Derek Mapp, said last night: "The board believes that the revised offer significantly undervalues Informa.

"Informa has attractive future prospects and is continuing to deliver growth across the business even in the face of a weaker economic environment. We have a first class management team to drive the business forward."

The group, which publishes maritime daily Lloyd's List, around 1,000 trade journals and runs a number of B2B events, said it believed it had "great potential under the leadership of its strong management team".

Informa shares were down 5.9% this morning and were trading at 390p as of 8.30am.

Informa caught the eye of the private equity crowd in June after it emerged the group had been in early-stage talks with B2B publisher United Business Media about a nil-premium merger.

This prompted an approach by a consortium initially made up of Providence, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman, but this third group confirmed yesterday morning that it had pulled out.

According to reports, new entrant Blackstone had originally planned to launch a rival bid for Informa in partnership with a Dubai investment company, but the plans fell through.

In a sign of the difficulty faced by groups raising capital in the current economic climate, the consortium is reported to have needed the help of between 12 and 14 banks to find the money needed for the bid.