PROVIDENCE – Providence Equity Partners Ltd. has confirmed that it has paired with The Carlyle Group to structure a bid to buy Informa Plc, a United Kingdom-based publisher and owner of Lloyd’s List, the world’s oldest continuously running newspaper, according to Bloomberg News.

The two private-equity firms approached Informa’s board of director with a “cash proposal” to purchase the company, they said in a statement published by Regulatory News Service in London.

“This proposal is at an early stage, and there can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor the terms on which an offer would be made,” the firms said in the statement. “A further announcement will be made when appropriate.”

If consummated, the takeover may the biggest leveraged buyout in the U.K. since the credit crunch, Bloomberg News data show. Private-equity firms have led less than $50 billion of takeovers in Europe so far this year, less than half the $121 billion they announced in the same period last year, Bloomberg data show.

“If they can do this, then it suggests it’s not that bad out there with the liquidity crisis and credit squeeze,” Meg Geldens, an analyst at MF Global Securities Ltd. in London, told Bloomberg News.

Informa publishes more than 2,000 trade publications and organizes more than 10,000 conferences annually.

Providence Equity Partners Inc. is a global private investment firm – based in Providence, with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, London, Hong Kong and New Delhi – that specializes in media, entertainment, communications and information companies. Since its founding in 1989, Providence Equity has made investments in more than 100 companies. Its equity commitments total about $21 billion. Additional information is available at www.provequity.com.