A private equity consortium made up of Providence Equity Partners, Carlyle Group and Blackstone walked away from a deal with Informa, the publisher of Lloyd�??s list, after the consortium�??s lending banks were unable to finance the bid amid the global financial crisis.

The original deal was valued at £3.4 bn. However, tumbling markets forced it to cut the offer by almost 10 per cent. The consortium�??s lending banks were offering to lend just above five times Informa�??s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, equivalent to total debt of about £1.5bn.