Media: Bonhill offered £5.3m cash for InvestmentNews but admits to ‘no certainty’ on a sale

Bonhill Group revealed that it had received an offer for InvestmentNews from an unnamed US buyer as it updated shareholders on the potential sale of its UK and Asia business.

The London-listed company, which produces magazines and events for financial advisers, said it had received a $6.5m (£5.3m) cash offer from a US media buyer for InvestmentNews. The deal is worth around 4.5p per share. 

The company expects to sign a conditional agreement with the purchaser in March 2023. 

Bonhill Group also gave an update on the projected sale of its UK and Asia businesses. In December last year, the company said it had received a £6.6m offer from a privately-owned UK media company, which was expected to be completed last month. 

The company today said the buyer’s due diligence on Bonhill’s UK and Asia businesses was “progressing well”, saying “a further announcement will be made in due course”.

Bonhill stressed that “there can be no certainty” that a sale will be concluded for either the company’s UK or Asia business or InvestmentNews,

However, it confirmed that it is no longer in an ‘offer period’ as it is no longer in discussions about any potential offer relating to its share capital. 

The company also issued a trading statement, saying that since its announcement on 9 December, clients have continued to delay the release of planned market spending in the year to 31 December. 

This resulted in a £200,000 hit to revenue and a £100,000 impact on EBITDA. As a result it now expects revenue for 2022 to be £13.6m and a LBITDA of £1.5m. 

It said it continues to manage its cash well and expects to have a year end cash position of £700,000. 

Over the last 12 months Bonhill’s share price has dropped by 25 per cent.