Apax, banks may split Incisive Media

Incisive Media, the business-to-business publisher, is splitting into two with Apax Partners, its private equity owner, to keep control of the American Lawyer Media business in the U.S., while banks take over the struggling UK arm, the Financial Times said on Thursday.

The FT said Apax has agreed to inject $15 million (9.23 million pounds) of fresh equity into American Lawyer Media as part of a debt-for-equity swap deal with Royal Bank of Scotland, cutting its total debt to $300 million from $450 million.

The American Lawyer Media stable of magazines, conferences and websites, which include the New York Law Journal, Law.com, Investment Week and Real Estate Forum, was purchased by Incisive in 2007.

The deal, the first time during the financial crisis that Apax has injected more equity into a company as part of a debt restructuring, is expected to be completed later this month. Apax was not immediately available for comment.

Apax's stake will fall to 51 per cent from 71 percent, with RBS owning the rest and having the right to one board seat.

The FT also said "senior lenders" to Incisive are closing in on a deal to take control of a debt-for-equity swap that would leave Apax, and its co-investors Caledonia Investments and Ingenious Media, with only a negligible stake.