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Blackstone Leads Race For £1.1bn Cannes Owner

The buyout titan Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) is leading the race to buy the Cannes advertising festival's parent company as its current owner weighs the alternative of a £1.1bn stock market listing.

Sky News understands that Blackstone is holding detailed talks with the management team at Top Right Group, the events and business media group which is currently owned by Apax Partners, another private equity firm, and the publisher of The Guardian newspaper.

The discussions between Blackstone and Apax are not certain to result in a deal, with other buyout firms such as Advent International and TPG (Taiwan OTC: 6521.TWO - news) also expressing an interest in buying TRG.

TRG is one of the most prominent privately owned media companies in the UK, owning a wide range of assets such as the fashion industry bible Draper's and its sister magazine, Retail Week, as well as the annual Cannes Lions festival.

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Any takeover is likely to value TRG at in excess of £1bn.

Apax, which acquired control of Top Right in 2008, is working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) on plans to offload the company.

Previously called Emap, just under 33% of Top Right is owned by Guardian Media Group (GMG), meaning that a deal valuing Top Right at £1.2bn including debt would mean a payout worth several hundred million pounds for the national newspaper publisher.

Apax and GMG previously jointly owned Auto Trader (Other OTC: ATDRY - news) , the title for secondhand car buyers, which was floated on the stock market earlier this year.

TRG generates revenues from three separate segments: events, which include the Cannes Lions and a new awards summit focused on healthcare industry communications; information services, which includes businesses such as the trends data provider WGSN; and Emap, which houses titles including Draper's and Health Service Journal.

Reporting results earlier this year for 2014, Duncan Painter, TRG's chief executive, described a three-year turnaround plan as being "complete".

"Our businesses have effective growth strategies in place and clear operating priorities," he said.

"I am delighted to announce that we have again grown our client base and further improved customer satisfaction and retention to industry-leading levels."

Turnover during the year increased by 15%, with pre-tax profit up by 24% to more than £85m.

The talks to offload its stake in TRG come several months after GMG appointed David Pemsel as its new chief executive.

Mr Pemsel was handed the role at a time of major change for the group, which this year saw Alan Rusbridger relinquish the editorship of its flagship newspaper after 20 years.

The Guardian's new editor, Katharine Viner, is a long-standing journalist at the title, ensuring a degree of continuity that was mirrored in the company's leadership with Mr Pemsel's appointment.

TRG is headquartered in London and employs more than 1,800 people.

The company has reduced its debt in the last two years, partly as a consequence of the sale of assets such as CAP, an automotive information business.

Apax and Blackstone declined to comment.