Springer Science+Business Media, the academic publisher from Germany, is planning to sell new shares of stock with a potential value of Eur760 million or US$993 million by early July. The share sale would result in increasing the ante for potential suitors that are eyeing to take over the whole company.
Bids have come from three different private equity firms, one amounting to as much as Eur3.5 billion for the company. The owners though, EQT, the Swedish private equity firm and Government of Singapore Investment Corp, are seeking juicier offers. The move was confirmed with Reuters by two individuals familiar with the Springer Science strategy.
These anonymous sources also said that EQT and GIC would be deciding on the offers already made within the next two weeks.
As of the moment, Springer Science said it would be moving forward with the plan to list in the Frankfurt bourse before the summer break in Europe. This would mean selling new shares through the stock exchange in order to pay off and pare down its outstanding debt. The plan though may be cancelled at the last minute should an agreement for an outright sale be forged with any party.
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