Pearson PLC (PSO) has short-listed four bids to go into the second round of the sale of Interactive Data Corp. (IDC), the U.S.-listed financial data provider majority owned by the U.K. publisher, people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires on Monday.

McGraw Hill Cos. (MHP) and Apax Partners are among the successful bidders, while Permira and Carlyle Group, which had bid jointly are out, people said. The remaining two bids come from buyout firms either bidding jointly or alone. Bain Capital LLC and Advent International Corp.; and Hellman & Friedman LLC and Silver Lake Partners submitted joint bids in the first round and other potential bidders include Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts; Providence Equity Partners; and TPG, people have said.

Due diligence will start this week for the short-listed bidders, a person familiar with the matter said, with management presentations expected next week.

Pearson, which also publishes the Financial Times newspaper and owns a large U.S. educational publishing business, wasn't immediately available for comment.

In January it said that IDC's board was conducting a "preliminary review of strategic alternatives."

It owns 61% of IDC's shares and both companies have remained consistently tight-lipped on the strategic review referring to earlier statements indicating that they don't wish to comment further.

The transaction value for the whole business is being put at around $3 billion and private equity buyers would be looking to fund this with around 40% cash and 60% debt, people have previously said.

Goldman Sachs (GS), which is running the sales process and wasn't immediately available to comment, is offering staple financing, people said. Staple finance is typically arranged by the vendor's advising bank in the sale of a business. The winning bidder has the option to accept the loan on offer or make its own financing arrangements.

Earlier Monday, Pearson posted market-beating earnings and sales for 2009 buoyed by its extensive education operations in the U.S., digital learning and the strength of the dollar against sterling. Net profit jumped 46% to GBP425 million in 2009 from GBP292 million a year ago on the back of a 17% increase in sales to GBP5.62 billion from GBP4.81 billion. Underlying sales rose 2%. A Pearson spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.

A McGraw Hill spokesman declined to comment. IDC declined to comment.

-By Marietta Cauchi and Jessica Hodgson, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
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