THE Oxfordshire employees of publishing group Informa are anxious about their future following a £3.4bn approach from private equity buyers.

Informa's subsidiary Taylor & Francis publishes dozens of academic journals, and books under the Routledge imprint, at Milton Park, near Abingdon.

Informa's shares rose 11 per cent as it said talks with the consortium - Providence Equity, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman - were at an early stage following the 506p-a-share move last week.

However, Anna Wagstaffe, of the National Union of Journalists, said employees were concerned that private equity owners would not be good for the quality of their pubications.

She said: "Publishing companies are subject to an endless round of takeovers, dismantling, synergising, streamlining and quick disposals.

She added: "Private equity is interested only in profit margins, and sadly, as our members everywhere can testify, higher profit margins often come at the expense of quality."

The discussions over the possible offer comes two weeks after talks over a possible £3bn tie-up with rival media company United Business Media. UBM, which publishes 200 magazines including Property Week and Travel Trade Gazette, reluctantly ended the talks after failing to gain a good enough deal for its shareholders.

Numis Securities analyst Lorna Tilbian said Informa could be "dismantled with relative ease" if the private equity consortium went ahead with a bid.

"Should an offer not be forthcoming, the group could still reconsider a merger with UBM, she added.

Informa will publish results for the first half of this year at the end of July. In April the firm reported a good start to the trading year, with strong renewal rates for its publishing business.

Informa was created through merger ten years ago, but Taylor & Francis's oldest journal, The Philosophical Magazine, which covers materials science, was founded in 1798.

Journals production moved to Abingdon in 2002, with Routledge moving two years later. Routledge had already taken over Abingdon publisher Carfax.

Last year, the group reported operating profits of £154m.