In a deal worth about 1 billion, Emap, the multi-brand media major has agreed to sell of its B2B business unit completely to Eden Bidco, a joint entity of Guardian Media Group and private equity firm Apax.
The news infused life into Emap shares as they surged by 22 percent almost touching the break up price. The sell also ends all speculation about Emap’s B2B business unit, probably one of its most successful divisions.
It was earlier rumored that Emap would function as standalone specialist publishing and events group after the sale of its other media assets. According to a company release, shareholders will be paid 470 pence in cash for each Emap Share by Eden Bidco.
Taking into consideration other two week old sales agreements by Emap for its radio and consumer magazine units to Heinrich Bauer, the total valuation for Emap touches around 2 billion. This puts the payout figure to each shareholder at 931p per share.
But the price fetched by Emap is on the lower side as analysts had estimated the combined value of Emap at about 2.2 – 2.3 billion. As per reports, this could also be due to the turmoil in the UK media market because of downturn in consumer spending and hence advertising spends slowdown.