Private equity firm General Atlantic has emerged as the frontrunner in an auction to buy a controlling stake in energy news service Argus Media, reports Joseph Cotterill, Neil Hume and Arash Massoudi of the Financial Times.
Cotterill, Hume and Massoudi write, “The sale of a 50 per cent-plus stake would see members of the founding Nasmyth family pocket hundreds of millions of pounds. It would also make dozens of Argus employees — including some of its senior journalists — paper multimillionaires. These include chairman Adrian Binks and Ian Bourne, the editor-in-chief.
“General Atlantic declined to comment, while Argus could not be reached for comment.
“Argus is expected to generate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of around £45m in 2016, the people said, placing a multiple of at least 20 times on the business.
“In contrast to traditional news organisations, which have struggled amid falling circulation and the shift to digital advertising, groups that focus on providing specialist industry data are thriving.”
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