The Mergermarket Group has hired advisers to sell part of the business, triggering speculation the company’s private equity owner is grooming its news and data business for a £1bn sale.
City sources said Mergermarket — publisher of online financial news and data services such as Dealreporter, Debtwire and Mergermarket — had appointed corporate finance advisers from EY to advise on the sale of Infinata, its life sciences division.
Mergermarket is expected to complete the sale of Infinata within weeks. The division is expected to fetch just under £20m.
Bankers believe Mergermarket’s private equity owners, BC Partners, will soon look to sell the company. BC Partners bought the business from Pearson, former owner of the Financial Times, for £382m in 2013. Mergermarket is understood to have received several unsolicited takeover approaches for the whole company over the past eighteen months — including one from XIO Group, a private equity firm backed by funds from investors based in mainland China.
