LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Investment and private equity
funds including Singapore's Temasek and Rothschild Group are
competing to invest in Argus Media in a deal that could value
the energy-market data provider at more than $1.3 billion.
Industry sources told Reuters that U.S. buyout fund Hellman
& Friedman, and a consortium comprising private equity firm
Charterhouse Capital Partners and the Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board (CPPIB) are among the contenders.
London-based Argus, Charterhouse, Rothschild, Hellman &
Friedman and CPPIB declined to comment when contacted by
Reuters. Temasek, the investment company owned by the government
of Singapore, did not immediately respond to emailed requests
for comment.
Argus, which competes with news and pricing agencies such as
Platts and Thomson Reuters TRI.TO , hired Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)
Merrill Lynch last year to review its strategic options as it
sought to expand and some existing shareholders said they wanted
to sell shares.
The company was set up in the 1970s just as the global oil
trade was picking up. Its biggest shareholders are executive
chairman and publisher Adrian Binks and members of the founding
Nasmyth family.
Industry sources have said Binks intends to keep his shares
while members of the founding family are considering selling.
Argus has told employees it will only consider selling to
investors who allow the company to continue operating
independently and who will invest in the business globally for a
five-year period, according to the sources.
Investors who accept the five-year plan will progress to the
final round of bidding and a deal is likely to be signed in the
next few months, employees have been told.
Argus had revenue of 124.4 million pounds ($178.8 million)
in the year to June 2015 and a pre-tax profit of 32.5 million
pounds.
Its U.S.-based competitor Opis was bought by information
provider IHS Inc IHS.N in January in a $650 million deal
Argus employs 750 full-time staff globally, half of whom are
commodities journalists, according to the company's website.
Besides oil, it reports and provides pricing on commodities
including coal, gas and fertilisers.
($1 = 0.6956 pounds)