Dow Jones to acquire eFinancialNews for £26m

by Alex Donohue, Brand Republic 16-Apr-07, 08:55

LONDON - Dow Jones & Company is in advanced talks about acquiring US-based media company eFinancialNews Holdings for £26.1m.

The business, which publishes Financial News, eFinancialNews.com, and weekly title Private Equity News, is being bought by Dow Jones subject to a working capital adjustment.

According to the Financial Times, Angus MacDonald, chief executive of eFinancialNews, is understood to have agreed a price with Dow Jones one hundred times greater than what he paid for the company when he refinanced it in 1996.

MacDonald, who has a 25% stake in the business, is expected to continue working with eFinancialNews in some capacity, with Tony Gibson remaining chief executive of Financial News and William Wright staying on as editor.

Dow Jones said it expected to complete the acquisition at the end of the second quarter, with the company estimating around 54% of eFinancialNews's 2007 revenue will stem from the business's non-print sources.

Rich Zannino, chief executive of Dow Jones, said: "eFinancialNews is a very well run multimedia company with highly regarded brands, content, products and services.

"Its fast-growing print, online, training and events businesses will enhance the growth and profitability of our European consumer and enterprise media operations and add successful digital and other non-print businesses to help diversify our reliance on traditional print revenue."