Lachlan Murdoch to bid for trade magazines - FT

PHILADELPHIA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Lachlan Murdoch, the oldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is close to a joint offer for a group of trade magazines, including Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The offer for the bulk of Nielsen Business Media could be announced as early as this week, the FT reported in its electronic edition.

Murdoch's investment company Illyria is bidding with Pluribus Capital Management, a new group that includes James Finkelstein, the U.S. publisher of The Hill and Who's Who, Matthew Doull, former publisher of Wired, and George Green, former publisher of Hearst International, the FT reported.

The two groups will invest equal sums and be equally represented on the board, the FT reported.

Nielsen Business Media, Illyria and Pluribus could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Jessica Hall; Editing by Diane Craft)

(For more M&A news and our DealZone blog, go to here)

((jessica.hall@thomsonreuters.com; 215-922-1086; Reuters Messaging: jessica.hall.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: HOLLYWOODREPORTER/

(C) Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nN29421531