Thursday, April 7, 2016

Argus stake sale to produce dozens of millionaire journalists

Dozens of journalists at oil-price reporting agency Argus Media are set to become multi-millionaires when a deal to bring an investor onboard goes through later this year, potentially valuing the firm at as much as US$1.3 billion ($1.7 billion).

Argus, which makes the bulk of its revenue by assessing energy prices and selling subscriptions to the industry, has been seeking investors since last year to expand its business and as some of the founding shareholders want to sell out.

The firm is in the final stages of reaching a deal to sell a stake, with four investment and private equity funds vying and prepared to value the company at up to 900 million pounds, according to sources close to the bidding process. Argus declined to comment.

The deal will make founding members - the Nasmyth family - and Argus' chairman and publisher Adrian Binks worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to disclosure documents.

But it will also turn dozens of Argus' shareholding employees - many of whom are journalists - into multi-millionaires in a development that contrasts deeply with the woes facing much of the general print media.

While traditional news outlets have cut hundreds of staff in recent years as they struggle to compete with free online media, niche publications have thrived due to rising demand from specialized audiences for high-quality, selective information.

This development certainly rings true for Argus, whose beginnings date back to 1970 when Jan Nasmyth set up the weekly newsletter Europ-Oil Prices to cover the oil products market in Western Europe just as global energy trading picked up.

Binks, after a career with BP, bought a stake in the newsletter in 1984 and was appointed managing director.

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