Equity pair team up for £200m Racing Post bid

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 03-May-07, 11:05

LONDON - Private equity firms Exponent and Veronis Suhler Stevenson have joined forces to make a combined bid of over £200m for Trinity Mirror's Racing Post.

Exponent and VSS were previously short listed for bidding separately, back in March, but have teamed up ahead of the May 16 deadline, set by NM Rothschild, Trinity Mirror's advisers.

A key factor to the sale is the remaining contract between Trinity Mirror and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the title's owner and joint-ruler of Dubai. He has licensed the title to Trinity Mirror on a ten-year lease and therefore must approve the potential purchaser.

But Trinity Mirror has been rumoured to be attempting to structure the deal in a manner that will not require the approval of Sheikh Mohammed.

The racing daily was put up for sale last December, along with 138 Trinity Mirror regional newspaper titles, such as The Birmingham Post, which Exponent is also believed to be bidding for.

In March, Trinity Mirror reported a 13.8% fall in annual pre-tax profits to £185.4m, together with falling revenues blamed on poor "cyclical" advertising market conditions.

Trinity Mirror declined to comment.