KKR Gatecrashes £1.1bn Cannes Lions Auction

The US buyout titan KKR has gatecrashed the £1bn-plus auction of Top Right Group, the owner of the annual Cannes Lions advertising festival.

Sky News has learnt that KKR has in recent days tabled an offer for Top Right Group (TRG) to rival a proposal submitted by its fierce competitor Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) .

The entrance of KKR, which has owned prominent UK companies such as Boots and Pets at Home (LSE: PETS.L - news) , will give TRG's owners - Apax Partners and Guardian Media Group - another alternative to a stock market flotation of the company.

Blackstone has been holding detailed talks with the management team at TRG, an events and business media group which owns 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.

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 £1.1bn 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 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.

Neither Apax nor KKR could be reached for comment.