Reed Elsevier, the largest business-to-business publisher in the United States, announced that it is selling its business and trade magazine division, Reed Business Information.

According to Sir Crispin Davis, CEO of Reed Elsevier, “RBI is a well-managed high quality business as evidenced by the success of its online growth and the control of costs. Its advertising revenue model and the inherent cyclicality fit less well however with the subscription-based information and workflow solutions focus of Reed Elsevier’s strategy.” The precise method of divestment of RBI will be the determined in the coming months.

The company also announced the acquisition of ChoicePoint, a U.S. risk-management information business, for US$4.1 billion. Choicepoint assets will be combined with Reed’s LexisNexis and analytics groups creating a market leader in this space with revenues of US$1.5 billion.

Apax Partners, a private equity group, is said to be interested in buying RBI. If successful, this could create an interesting new business given Apax also own the business-to-business publisher Incisive Media as well as recently paid over £1billion for Emap’s business-to-business assets, in partnership with Guardian Media Group.

While the titles for these businesses vary there are many whose content corresponds with those ‘covered’ by sourcing websites such as Alibaba.com and GlobalSources.com. I mention this as it creates a huge content licensing and/or cross-promotional opportunity benefiting all parties, especially the clients of these trade communities. Anyone want Apax’s number?