Hill quits as Pearson scraps disposal of FT Business

The media company Pearson yesterday took its FT Business division off the market in a move that prompted the departure of Stephen Hill, the former chief executive of the Financial Times Group who had led one of the bids for the unit.

FT Business, which publishes magazines including Investors Chronicle, was "worth more as part of the FT Group than potential bidders were prepared to pay", Pearson said.

It is thought that Pearson was left mulling an offer at the lower end of the £60m to £90m range, well beneath the £70m to £75m figure that had originally been touted. Analysts have valued FT Business at between £60m and £90m, or between two and three times the £30m sales the publishing unit booked in 2001.

Pearson, which put FT Business on the block in February, said that after weighing up the various offers, it thought it would be better to keep the division after all. After discussions with a variety of parties, it is thought that bidders had been narrowed down to three including Incisive Media and the venture-capital groups Hg Capital and Permira.

Mr Hill, who had stepped aside from his position within Pearson in February to bid for the unit with the backing of Permira, said yesterday he was quitting to look for a new challenge. "Pearson is a very fine company and the FT has a great future. But after 15 years, I just felt like I needed a different kind of challenge and I'm now looking forward to some new role which is just as engaging," he said.

Pearson said yesterday that after the decision to keep FT Business, Nick Crawshaw, its managing director, would report to Olivier Fleurot, the FT's managing director.

Earlier this month, Incisive Media said its talks to buy FT Business had ended because the pair could not agree on terms while Hg Capital, which was backing a rival management bid led by Mr Crawshaw, also walked away from negotiations.

"Stephen [Hill] has had a big role in transforming the FT from a UK newspaper with a small international following into a group that can claim to be the world's most international source of business news and analysis, in print and online. In competitive terms the FT has never been stronger and Stephen deserves a large share of the credit for that," said Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's chief executive.