Private equity backers to sell more Nielsen shares

Selling shareholders include affiliates of The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Hellman & Friedman, among others.

The offering has not yet been priced, but the closing sale price of Nielsen stock was $46.96. At that price, selling shareholders could receive $1.4bn in proceeds.

Nielsen’s backers have made a series of follow-on offerings since taking the company public through an IPO in 2011, including offerings in 2012 and 2013.

• In other news, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a final consent order settling charges that Nielsen’s $1.3bn acquisition of Arbitron was anti-competitive. The final order requires Nielsen to sell and license, for at least eight years, certain assets related to Arbitron’s cross-platform audience measurement services to an FTC-approved buyer. The FTC is currently seeking public comment on Nielsen’s request for approval to sell its LinkMeter technology and related data rights and assets to comScore.