ALM Real Estate Media Incisive Media

"We expect the deal to close within the next two months," said ALM president and CEO William Pollak in a statement to employees, "although no date has yet been set." In addition to the Real Estate Media properties, which includes GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum Magazine, ALM owns and publishes a range of national and regional magazines and newspapers, including The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel and The National Law Journal. REM also publishes Real Estate Southern California, Real Estate New York, Real Estate New Jersey, GlobeSt/RETAIL and seven targeted newsletters. The division also produces the RealShare Conference Series.

"We chose to view this as not just a sale from one owner to another, but as an opportunity to find a new partner who could help ALM achieve its growth plans and become a global provider of leading legal and real estate publications and websites, and a significant player in the global conference and event business," Pollak said.

Incisive Media is a B-to-B media company focused on four key markets: risk management and financial, professional and marketing services. Its line-up of publications includes Investment Week, Post Magazine, Risk, Search Engine Strategies, Accountancy Age and Legal Week. Incisive has annual revenues of $280 million and has operations in New York City, London and Hong Kong. Incisive is backed by Apax Partners, a $20-billion private equity fund that supported Weller's $550-million buyout of the company in December 2006.

"At this stage, we do not anticipate major changes in how ALM conducts its business," Pollak explained. "Our commitment to providing journalism and other content of the highest quality to our readers, website users and conference attendees, as well as our focus on the needs of our customers and the communities we serve, will remain unchanged."

Tim Weller, founder and group chief executive of Incisive Media, says, "The acquisition of ALM will advance Incisive Media substantially toward our strategic goal of creating a leading global business-to-business media company."

Credit Suisse is the exclusive financial advisor to Wasserstein & Co. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is Wasserstein's legal advisor. Incisive Media is advised by Greenhill and Co., Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Royal Bank of Scotland underwrote financing for the deal.

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ALM Sells to Incisive Media for $630M

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