DealBook: Forbes Media to Sell Majority Stake to Hong Kong 1nvestors

Photo Steve Forbes will retain the chairman and editor-in-chief roles.Credit Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

Updated, 12:08 p.m. |

Forbes Media agreed on Friday to sell a majority stake in itself to a consortium of Asian investors, concluding a protracted sales process in which a number of prospective bidders dropped out.

The terms were not disclosed, but the transaction values Forbes Media at $475 million, said a person close to the deal.

Forbes's new controlling shareholders will be Integrated Whale Media Investments, a group that includes the Hong Kong investor Tak Cheung Yam and Wayne Hsieh, the Singaporean co-founder of Asustek Computer.

The Forbes family will retain a "significant" ownership stake, the company said in a statement, with its patriarch, Steve Forbes, retaining the chairman and editor in chief roles. The publisher's existing chief executive, Mike Perlis, will hold on to that position as well.

Elevation Partners, the investment firm that counts Bono of the band U2 among its founding partners, will sell its roughly 45 percent stake.

"This is a major milestone for the company and our family, and we're pleased to partner with a forward-looking investor group to further drive the evolution and growth of this exceptional company," Mr. Forbes said in a statement.

Photo Forbes magazine has suffered has from declining print revenues.Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Friday's announcement completes a sales process begun late last year with the promise that investors would get an interest in Forbes magazine, once a bible for the capitalist set.

Forbes has been buffeted by the same print advertising exodus that has affected the rest of the industry. Although the paid circulation for its print editions has remained in the 920,000 to 930,000 range since 2009, according to the Alliance of Audited Media, its advertising in those print editions, including ForbesLife, declined nearly 11 percent last year.

The magazine, however, has been among the most aggressive in growing its digital advertising, particularly through the use of sponsored content. Its BrandVoice platform allows advertisers to publish their own articles directly on Forbes.com.

In fact, Forbes's digital push has been so successful that revenues from online advertising passed print advertising at the end of 2013, according to Mike Perlis, the company's president and chief executive.

Around late November, the Forbes family hoped to fetch around $400 million in a sale, with foreign buyers like Axel Springer of Germany and Spice Global Investments of Singapore in the mix.

But interest waned, and by the spring the sales process appeared to be in jeopardy.

Bringing in the Integrated Whale Media investors will furnish Forbes with new capital and the promise of further international expansion of the Forbes brand.

"We are investing in the Forbes brand, history, family involvement and a management team that is successfully transforming the company," Mr. Yam said. "Forbes Media is built around a brand that is synonymous with success and a mission that has tremendous respect and global appeal in established and growing markets around the world. As more market-based economies emerge globally, interest in the information that Forbes provides and the message it delivers resonates with a growing audience."

Mr. Forbes, who got nearly everything he wanted out of the deal, acknowledged in an interview that the negotiations had taken a long time. "We were looking for a very particular kind of buyer interested in brand and legacy and the strategy the current management team has in place, and we are very pleased to say the long process was worthwhile," he said.

It is no surprise that the buyers came from Asia, Mr. Perlis said. "In Asia, where emerging companies are building on free market capitalism, Steve stands for these things in a very powerful way. Steve is revered, frankly."

Deutsche Bank and the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft advised Forbes, while Credit Suisse and the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised the investors.

source : http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/640316/s/3ca2fc64/sc/30/l/0Ldealbook0Bnytimes0N0C20A140C0A70C180Cforbes0Emedia0Eto0Esell0Emajority0Estake0Eto0Ehong0Ekong0Einvestors0C0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm