A private equity consortium made up of Providence Equity Partners, Carlyle Group and Blackstone walked away from a deal with Informa, the publisher of Lloydâ??s list, after the consortiumâ??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 consortiumâ??s lending banks were offering to lend just above five times Informaâ??s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, equivalent to total debt of about £1.5bn.