By Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis
(Reuters) - UBM Plc (L:UBM) is in the final stages of discussions to divest PR Newswire Association LLC, with Cision and Vista Equity Partners Management LLC competing to acquire the press release distributor, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Cision, a provider of public relations software and intelligence owned by private equity firm GTCR LLC, and Vista Equity, another buyout firm, submitted binding offers for PR Newswire last week, the people said.
However, the leveraged finance markets have been challenging in recent weeks, weighing on the value of the offers and making a deal uncertain, the people said.
UBM has been looking to sell PR Newswire for more than $700 million, and will decide on the sale in the coming days, the people added.
The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. UBM and Cision did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Vista Equity declined to comment.
UBM is looking to sell PR Newswire so it can focus on increasing the company's market share in trade shows and events. It bought trade show company Advanstar Communication Inc for $972 million last year.
PR Newswire had revenue of 195.8 million pounds in 2014, accounting for 26 percent of UBM's total revenue and down 3 percent from 2013. Its adjusted operating profit was 44.8 million pounds, down 1.8 percent.
GTCR has been acquiring several companies in the public relations software space recently. Last year it bought Cision and merged it with peer Vocus. It subsequently used Cision to acquire Gorkana Group Ltd, a media intelligence and data insights service provider.
Vista, which focuses on technology investing, has also previously invested in information services companies, such as STATS LLC, a sports data provided it bought last year.