IIR sale snubs private equity

Lord Laidlaw gains almost £700m

Wednesday 1 June 2005 at 16:00

IIR Holdings, a UK conference and events organiser, has been sold to London-listed publishing group T&F Informa for £768m (€1.1bn). Rival bids from private equity firms were rejected in favour of the trade buyer.

Apax Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Charterhouse Development Capital and Cinven were all tipped to buy the firm.