News

A mystery bidder has made an approach to buy RSDB, the parent of pan-Euro­pean long-run print group Roto Smeets.

RSDB announced last week that it had been approached with a €40 (£31.20) per share bid, valuing the firm at €132m. A number of RSDB shareholders are said to have agreed to the bid, which was made through an unnamed financial institution.

John Caris, RSDB’s chief executive, could not comment on the bid, which comes just months after his firm’s failed €128m bid to buy Quebecor World’s European operations.

Observers have suggested, however, that the bidder could be a private equity house looking to buy both Roto Smeets and Quebecor World’s Euro­pean operations to create a pan- European web powerhouse.