Hot sectors in a tepid recovery
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REFILE-Informa, buyout firms push for Monday deal-sources
(Fixes typographical error in 'Informa' in headline)
LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Buyout firms including Carlyle are pushing to secure a deal as early as Monday to buy British events organiser and publisher Informa (INF.L) for 2.15 billion pounds ($4.27 billion), sources close to the matter said.
"The deal is more likely to go ahead on Monday than not," said one source.
A second source cautioned that while the companies would try to have a deal to annoucnwe by the time of Informa's earnings statement on Monday, the number of parties involved could complicate the process and add time to the negotiations, however.
Carlyle and Informa declined to comment.
Informa said on July 2 it was considering a 2.15 billion pound ($4.27 billion) bid approach from Providence Equity LLP, The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman, adding that the firms had proposed an offer of 506 pence per share.
The discussions have continued, but one key question has been whether the buyout firms would be able to raise the money they needed to bid in the current troubled debt market.
Informa shares have been trading well below the proposed offer level as many investors question whether a deal will succeed in today's tight credit markets.
By 1513 GMT on Friday, they traded up 0.7 percent at 415.5 pence. (Reporting by Mathieu Robbins; Editing by Quentin Bryar)
