Ascential PLC’s consumer data business has attracted the interest of a private equity firm advised by the former head of the Daily Mail’s parent, Sky News reported on Tuesday.

Paul Zwillenberg, who stepped down as chief executive of Daily Mail & General Trust last autumn, is working with the buyout firm BC Partners on its interest in WGSN, which is owned by FTSE 250-listed events group Ascential, Sky reported.

Zwillenberg is working alongside Elizabeth Deeming, a former executive at Stylus Media Group and News Corp, on the deal.

City sources said Ascential had asked for initial offers for WGSN, which supplies data on fashion trends to the industry, this week, the report noted.

The business is understood to be valued at more than £700 million, with Apax Partners, another buyout firm, among the rival bidders to BC Partners.

Neither Zwillenberg nor Deeming is expected to have an ongoing role in the WGSN business if BC’s bid is successful, according to people close to the situation, Sky reported.

https://news.sky.com/story/ex-daily-mail-chief-is-ascential-to-buyout-firms-wgsn-bid-12882110

Shares in Ascential closed 1.7% higher at 241.12 pence in London on Tuesday.

Ascential in January announced plans to sharpen its events focus and separate its digital commerce assets into an independent US-listed company. It also proposed to sell consumer trends unit WGSN, with its UK listing continuing as an events company.

Ascential said the moves will provide growth funds for the company. It said a ‘significant’ amount of any WGSN proceeds will be returned to shareholders.

The soon-to-be spun out digital unit will be better enabled to ‘attract and retain talent, have its own currency for M&A and ultimately open up incremental pools of capital’, Ascential said at the time.

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