Fimalac, the French group that owns the Fitch credit rating agency, yesterday offered €245 million (£166 million) for Les Echos, hoping to snatch the business daily from Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH, the luxury goods group.
The new offer by Fimalac narrowly tops Mr Arnault’s €240 million bid, made to the Pearson, the owner of Les Echos. Pearson has granted Mr Arnault a period of exclusivity for talks until November.
An adviser to Fimalac’s chairman, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, said that the French executive saw a natural fit between the financial reporting of Les Echos and the service provided by Fitch Ratings. Both rely on independence and provide readers and investors with business information.
Similar logic underpins the buyout of the Reuters news agency by Thomson Financial and the ownership of Standard & Poor’s ratings group by McGraw Hill, the American business publisher, the adviser said.
Mr Ladreit de Lacharrière made the “firm and definitive offer” after an approach by Les Echos journalists earlier this week. He made the offer to Sir David Bell, a Pearson executive director, on Wednesday, with the approval of the Fimalac board.
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A secret ballot of Les Echos journalists yesterday showed unanimous support for the Fimalac offer, with one spoilt vote.
Mr Ladreit de Lacharrière has given pledges of editorial independence, maintaining staff and wants to develop Les Echos, especially the on-line side, the adviser said.
Journalists on Les Echos went on strike for two days last week in protest against a sale to Mr Arnault, arguing that ownership by an industrial group prejudiced the paper’s independence. Mr Arnault has put the rival La Tribune up for sale in order to buy Les Echos.
Mr Ladreit de Lacharrière sold a 20 per cent stake in Fitch to Hearst Corporation last year and bought Algorithmics, a specialist in financial risk measurement, in 2005.