Sale of Forbes is in doubt

Forbes Media LLC’s effort to find a buyer is running into trouble, with one potential bidder officially out of the running and two others no longer in active talks, reports Alex Sherman, Stefania Bianchi and Cornelius Rahn of Bloomberg News.

Sherman, Bianchi and Rahn write, “Germany’s Axel Springer SE, which publishes the Russian edition of the magazine, isn’t involved in any process to acquire Forbes, Edda Fels, a spokeswoman, said yesterday. The company had been interested in bidding for the New York-based publisher, people with knowledge of the matter said in February.

“Singapore’s Spice Global Investments Pvt also has removed itself from the process, said one of people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. China’s Fosun International Ltd. (656) hasn’t held active talks for the asset for some time, another person said. Those buyers decided that Forbes was asking too high a price, both people said.

“Forbes, which is working with Deutsche Bank AG on the sale, is seeking as much as $400 million, people with knowledge of the matter said in November. Final bids were due in February, people familiar with the situation said at the time.

“Mia Carbonell, a spokeswoman for Forbes, declined to comment. Mayura Hooper, a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours. Representatives for Spice Global and Fosun weren’t immediately available for comment. Axel Springer, Spice and Fosun were the only bidders known to be interested in buying Forbes, the people familiar with the situation said.”

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