Blackstone joins Informa bid consortium: source

LONDON | Wed Sep 3, 2008 1:08pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Private equity firm Blackstone (BX.N) joined a consortium bidding for publishing group Informa (INF.L) after its tie-up with Dubai fell through, a source familiar with the situation said.

"They (Blackstone) are in the process of joining," the source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Carlyle Group CYL.UL and Providence Equity Partners secured a financing package to back the buyout of the British group, senior banking sources told Reuters on Tuesday, improving the chances of a successful sale.

Blackstone had first formed a rival bidding consortium with the Investment Corporation of Dubai, but the partnership had ended after Dubai pulled out, the first source said.

Carlyle and Providence have assembled a group of around 12 banks to provide a leveraged loan of around 1.5 billion pounds ($2.66 billion) that will finance the purchase, the banking sources told Reuters this week.

The deal would be one of the largest leveraged buy-outs since the credit crunch struck in mid 2007.

(Reporting by Douwe Miedema; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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