Netherlands-based VNU, which owns Nielsen Media Research, ACNielsen and Adweek (among others) on Monday said it was in talks to be acquired by a group of private equity firms that have offered to buy it for as much as 7.3 billion euros (approximately $8.8 billion), or 28.00-28.50 euros per share, reports Reuters. The buyout firms are the Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Thomas H. Lee Partners, AlpInvest Partners, Permira, and Hellman & Friedman.
"The VC consortium consists of the big names in the sector, and VNU indicates it will not proceed in discussions with another party. So the chance of a counterbid or a bidding war seems fairly limited," Petercam analyst Gert Potvlieghe is quoted as saying.
VNU operates in four core areas: marketing information, media measurement, directories, and business-to-business publishing - in which it is one of the world's largest publishers.
