More Than 20 Suitors for RBI

Report: McGraw-Hill is a potential buyer; two dozen other companies interested.

By Jason Fell
07/21/2008

More than six months after Reed Elsevier announced it was putting Reed Business Information on the block, BusinessWeek parent McGraw-Hill has emerged as one of more than 20 companies that are interested in purchasing the London-based media company’s b-to-b publishing arm.

UBS, the bank that’s organizing the sale, sent information to prospective bidders last week, according to a report in the London Telegraph. Private equity groups Cinven, Permira, Providence Equity Partners and Bain also were reported as interested parties. First round bids are said to be due by mid-August.

In an e-mail to FOLIO:, a McGraw-Hill spokesperson declined to comment.

McGraw-Hill, owner of credit rating firm Standard & Poors, publishes several construction and aviation magazines, including Aviation Week and several titles under its McGraw-Hill Construction division. A number of its titles overlap with RBI titles, which also publishes Variety.

It was not immediately clear if McGraw-Hill is interested in purchasing individual titles or RBI as a whole.

Reed Elsevier last month, in an effort to make sure RBI is sold in one piece, put together a group of banks to lend nearly $1.5 billion to the eventual buyer. Early estimates put an RBI sale at about $2 billion.