Reed Elsevier has received up to 12 bids in the first-round of offers for its Reed Business Information arm. The division has been valued at between £1bn and £1.25bn.
It is thought that US publishing giant McGraw Hill submitted a joint offer with private equity firms Advent and Quadrangle.
Private equity groups Bain, Apollo Management and Providence Equity Partners are also thought to have submitted first-round bids.
It has been suggested that Reed has also received offers for just part of the business rather than the whole division.
Reed Business Information publishes UK and US titles such as Totaljobs, New Scientist, Farmers Weekly and Variety, Design News and Broadcasting & Cable.
Reed Elsevier was founded by industrialist Albert E Reed who set up a newsprint manufacturing plant at Tovil Mill in Kent, England in 1894. The business became a public company unde his name in 1903.
