INFORMA GROUP AGREES TO ACQUIRE SCIENCE MAGAZINES.

Informa Group (London) has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Eaton Massachusetts Business Trust (EMBT; Natick, MA), the publisher of BioTechniques, a monthly bio-research journal, and its European edition. The deal is conditioned on Informa' s successful completion of a vendor placing of 3.88 million new shares to raise [pound]21.8 million to assist in payment.

Established in 1983, the journal and its bi-monthly sister journal for the European market publish articles on original techniques and applications used by life scientists. It has a mostly--paid circulation of 60,000 scientists in the U.S. and 20,000 in Europe. Informa said that journal revenues for the first quarter of 2001 were 10% ahead of the same period in 2000 and that forward bookings for the rest of 2001 were "encouraging."

In addition to the vendor placing shares to be used for acquiring EMBT, Informa will also issue 5.85 million "cash placing shares" to raise [pound]32.7 in cash. The company said the cash will be used to strengthen its "ability to continue to take advantage of the best bolt-on acquisition opportunities when they arise." Together, the vendor placing shares and the cash placing shares represent about 8% of all outstanding Informa stock.