STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Informa falls on Springer bid concern

Shares in Informa (INF.L) fall 5.9 percent after the British media and events group says it is in talks to buy academic publisher Springer Science and Business Media (SSBM), with analysts questioning the impact of the German company's debt pile on the structure of a deal.

"The issue here is the significant amount of debt that Informa would have to take on from Springer," say analysts at Citi, who estimate that Informa would need to raise 1 billion to 1.5 billion pounds in equity, which is 55 percent to 85 percent of its current market capitalisation.

Brokerage Singer says that while a tie-up could generate savings of about 60 million pounds - with the possibility of significantly more, depending on how much SSBM's private equity owners, Cinven and Candover, have already extracted - questions are raised about financing.

"While the upside on cost savings is mouth-watering in a low growth environment, such a deal would take some significant work on structure and pose questions for the vendors and Informa shareholders," it says in a note.

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Reuters messaging rm://paul.sandle.reuters.com@reuters.net