European Directories Likely for Sale

European Directories, the private equity owned publisher of directories across Europe, is for sale, according to a report in the Financial Times (via Bloomberg). European Directories operates in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden. The company has a leadership or strong second position in each of its markets.

The company is currently owned by Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd., which acquired then Yellow Brick Road from fellow private equities Veronis Suhler Stevenson and 3i Group in 2005 for $2.3 billion. The company now carries about $2.6 billion in debt, which its creditors are currently attempting to reorganize.

European Directories joins Yellow Pages Group (New Zealand) as the other large pending sale in the global Yellow Pages industry.