Media Firm Attempting To Sell Off Assets

Mon, 10 Sep 2007

Emap, publisher of FHH men’s magazine, is reported to be holding talks with banks in a bid to offer loans to bidders interested in buying its various businesses.

The move is a clear indication of the company’s attempt to sell off its assets, as it attempts to ensure bidders, particularly private equity firms, are not excluded from the auction due to the recent credit market turmoil.

Bidders can use the loans to finance their acquisitions of Emap's assets in a practice which is better known as "stapled financing" - where the loan terms are literally stapled to bid documents.

This practice is more commonly used by private equity companies when selling their assets and is now being used by listed companies in order to get deals going, as they try to avoid the tougher market conditions due to a tightening by lenders .

Emap, which also publishes Grazia and Heat and owns radio stations Magic and Kiss, is understood to have received strong interest for all three of its divisions - business-to-business, radio and consumer magazines – with the latter being sought after by Finnish publishing giant Sanoma.

Sanoma Magazines is one of largest consumer magazine publishers in Europe, publishing 300 titles in 13 countries.

The company claims to be the market leader in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands and Russia, and already has an established relationship with Emap in place through its licence to publish FHM and Top Sante in Europe .

However, Sanoma will have to fend off competition from private equity firm Quadrangle – the US publisher of Maxim, who last week stated their interest in the consumer division. Other potential bidders include French publisher Lagardere.
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