A private equity consortium led by Blackstone Group LP and Hellman & Friedman LLC and a group that includes Advent International and Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s buyout arm have advanced to the second round of bidding for Nielsen Holdings Plc, according to Reuters citing people familiar with the matter.
Nielsen said in September it would expand a review of strategic alternatives to include a sale of the entire television ratings company after coming under pressure to do so from hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, which in August reported it owned up to 8.4 percent of the company’s shares.
Private equity firms Apollo Global Management LLC and Bain Capital LP also went to the next round of bidding in the Nielsen auction, which is expected to be completed by March, the sources said.
No deal is certain, cautioned the sources, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
“The Nielsen strategic review includes a broad range of options, including continuing to operate as a public, independent company, a separation of either Nielsen’s buy or watch segment, or a sale of the company,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.
“There can be no assurance that this review will result in a specific transaction or other alternative. The company will provide updates on the review when it determines that further disclosure is appropriate or required.”
Nielsen, which has a debt pile of about $8.6 billion, almost as much as its market value, faces competition from start-ups using automated content recognition (ACR) to track viewing habits via mobile devices and smart TVs. It acquired Gracenote in 2017 in a bid to bolster its ACR capabilities.
Nielsen as a brand has lot of potential to grow like any other big company like Microsoft and Google. Current problem is due lo lot of wrong decision by higher management. Many employee work hard for years together day in day out without any direction, purpose and more over any recognition. It needs a suitable people in upper management to to promote innovation and take startigic decisions without it will be very difficult to survive.
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