The Economist has the “capacity and appetite” for larger acquisitions, its CEO said Wednesday, according to a story in the Financial Times by media editor Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.
He wrote, “The Economist is understood to have been an unsuccessful bidder for Jane’s Information Group, which was sold this week for $183.5m to IHS. [CEO Helen] Alexander would not comment on the auction but said: ‘We certainly have the capacity to buy, and the appetite.’
“The group had £31m of cash at the end of March, and capacity to raise ‘conservative’ debt-financing, she said. The acquisitions of European Voice and GalleryWatch in the past two years had given it ‘credibility in our ability to integrate acquisitions’, she added.
“The group would look to acquire ‘intelligent media brands’ targeted at ‘high-end’ audiences, she said. Recent bids for Reuters and Dow Jones have focused attention on valuations of premium media groups, although Ms Alexander said these were not the spur for ‘thinking big’.”
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