United News & Media to Buy CMP Media

Britain’s United News & Media agreed to buy CMP Media Inc., the publisher of InformationWeek and Computer Reseller, for $920 million to grab a bigger piece of the fast-growing U.S. technology publications market. United would pay $39 a share in cash for CMP, a 15% premium to CMP’s closing price Wednesday. It said it plans to boost spending to develop its Internet business by selling shares in a company it would form with its own units and pieces of CMP.

London-based United News, whose holdings include PR Newswire, is betting that merging its Miller Freeman trade magazine and exhibition unit with CMP’s magazines will help it compete with Ziff-Davis Inc. in the U.S. technology market. Technology titles are the largest part of the U.S. trade magazine market.

United News said it has received commitments for more than 68% of CMP’s shares from members of the Leeds family, which controls CMP. Shares of Manhasset, N.Y.-based CMP rose $4.56 to close at $38.44, while United News’ American depositary receipts rose $1.50 to close at $23.75, both on Nasdaq.