UBM in talks to sell PR Newswire

UK communications and events company UBM Plc said on Wednesday it was in "highly preliminary" talks about a sale of press release distributor PR Newswire.

UBM had been seeking to sell the business since April.

The company said it was discussing with a number of parties but there was no certainty about a deal being reached.

PR Newswire is a communications and marketing services company that allows marketers, corporate communicators and others to display their content via press releases to connect and engage with their target audiences globally, and drive demand across all channels.

''PR Newswire provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimise and target content – from rich media microsites to high impact video to multimedia press releases – then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels,'' according to the company's website.

According to a Reuters report published Tuesday, Cision, a provider of public relations software and intelligence, was working on a bid to buy PR Newswire

UBM, the UK-based owner of PR Newswire, said on Wednesday that it was in ''highly preliminary discussions'' with several parties to possibly sell the news release distribution service.

About half of PR Newswire's revenue came from distribution in the US. UBM said PR Newswire had a revenue of £195.8 million or about $302.6 million, in 2014.

''There is no certainty that these discussions will result in a transaction being agreed,'' UBM said in a news release.

UBM did not offer details about whom it was speaking to or the price at which it was looking to sell PR Newswire.

London-based UBM is an organizer of trade shows, offers marketing services and distributes news releases for companies.

At the time of acquisition last year of California-based Advanstar,  a marketer and trade show organiser UBM said the deal would create the largest events organiser in the US and make UBM the biggest provider of fashion industry events in America.

Trade shows and other events made up around 60 per cent of UBM's business. UBM posted a revenue of $746.3 million in 2014 and employed around 5,000 people in over 20 countries.