Emap mulls magazine and conference sale as Apax tries to salvage its investment Duncan Painter, who joined the business from BSkyB as chief executive at the end of last year, has met with about 20 advisers, including Hawkpoint, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank to discuss the potential break-up of the media giant. Emap fired the starting gun on a strategic review of the business at around the same time Mr Painter arrived. It has already restructured, moving its biggest conferences, such as World Retail Congress, into its highly profitable exhibitions unit, and the smaller, magazine-related conferences into Inform, the division which publishes trade magazines such as Retail Week, Nursing Times and Drapers. Sources close to the company said Apax would not be able to recoup its investment in Inform, but is keen to sell the unit before its value falls further. Emap is understood to have seen a boost in trading at its magazines in the first two months of this year, but a decline in advertising revenues and pressure on subscriptions has dragged down valuations of some publishing businesses. Mr Painter denied that the company was poised for a break-up, saying he was focused on growth, but admitted that he was holding talks with potential advisers. Since I have arrived I have had at least 20 firms come to visit me. At the end of the day, we are owned by private equity investors, so if someone turns up and offers a fortune, sure we would sell it to them," he said. Under Mr Painter, staff at Emap have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, gagging them from talking about the business's strategy, even to their colleagues in different parts of the company. Apax and GMG bought Emap for £1bn in 2008 but the business has been weakened by the recession and a high debt burden, which at one point cost £50m a year in payments. The private equity firm has already written down its investment in Emap to zero, and bought £130m-worth of mezzanine debt in Emap. However, it plans to keep investing in the business.