RBI Sale At Risk Of Falling Through As Bidding Price Drops To $1.7 billion

Reed Elsevier's (NYSE: RUK) troubled attempt to sell-off its UK B2B division Reed Business Information appears to be in big trouble with the news that bids for the company since August have fallen about a half-million dollars, according to Bloomberg. Two unidentified sources close to the deal told the news service the bids have dropped to about $1.7 billion (£97 million) from $2.3 billion (£1.3 billion). The company has struggled to attract the financing needed to seal the deal since the sale was announced in February. Merrill Lynch analyst Paul Sullivan said in a note that the risk of the sale "being delayed or falling through has clearly increased". The markets were unimpressed and shares in Reed Elsevier dipped 6.4 percent... [read full story]