Creditors could be set to stage a take-over of B2B publisher VNU Business Media Europe from owner 3i, according to Times Online, after the private equity group revealed (via interim management update) its top 50 investments have lost £681 million or 21 percent of their combined value and are now worth only £3.6 billion. 3i today confirmed CEO Phillip Yea has stepped down after five years in the role and is replaced by Michael Queen.
Times Online, citing a source close to 3i, reports that VNU is close to breaking its banking covenants and needs investment — meaning that 3i either has to put in more cash to VNU or face a creditor takeover, in a debt-for-equity swap. 3i has £500 million in debt and £1 billion in capital commitments, compared with £620 million in cash on its balance sheet. 3i bought B2B publisher VNU, which owns owned Accountancy Age and Computing before selling VNU UK to Incisive two years ago, at the height of what is now referred to as the boom in financial markets in 2006 for
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