THe Buy Ofer of American Lawyer Magazine

Bruce Wasserstein, the chairman of Lazard Ltd., agreed to sell American Lawyer magazine and the rest of his legal and real estate publishing business to Incisive Media of the U.K. for $630 million.

The cash acquisition of New York-based ALM is expected to be completed in the third quarter, Incisive said today in an e- mailed statement. ALM publishes 33 U.S. national and regional magazines and newspapers for the legal and property professions, including The National Law Journal.

The sale ends a foray into legal publishing by Wasserstein, 59, who paid $200 million for American Lawyer Group in 1997. For London-based Incisive, the deal is the fourth since it was acquired by private-equity firm Apax Partners Worldwide LLP in December.

``The acquisition of ALM will advance Incisive Media towards our goal of creating a leading global business-to-business media company,'' Tim Weller, Incisive's chief executive officer, said in the statement.

ALM, which also runs trade shows and Web sites including law.com, had sales of about $200 million last year. The company was formed by U.S. Equity Partners LP, a private-equity fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co. The firm, which manages $2 billion of assets, is owned by Bruce Wasserstein, 59, and other senior members of the firm, according to its Web site.

After buying American Laywer, Wasserstein expanded into other media with the creation of The Deal, which tracks mergers and acquisitions, and the purchase of New York magazine. Those publications aren't part of ALM.

Apax's Investment

Wasserstein is also CEO of Lazard, the investment bank whose shares have risen 86 percent he took the company public in May 2005.

Apax bought Incisive Media, which was founded in 1995, for about 275 million pounds ($554.4 million). Incisive publishes Legal Week, Investment Week and Accountancy Age. London-based Apax operates across the U.S., Europe and Asia and manages funds worth more than $20 billion in sectors such as technology, telecommunications and retail.

Incisive, which also has offices in Asia and North America, bought publisher MSM International in November for 22.5 million pounds, adding magazines, Web sites, conferences and award events.

Upon completion of the deal, ALM Chief executive Officer William Pollak will join the board of Incisive Media. Incisive Media has annual sales of 140 million pounds, the company said.

source:bloomberg.com