Just a few days after Reed Elsevier (NYSE: RUK) named a new CEO, it’s already lost one bidder for its on-the-block Reed Business Information (RBI) publishing unit. US equity fund management Apollo Management has pulled out of the auction, Financial News reports, citing “a source close to the situation”. That’s despite the asking price dropping from a purported $2.3 billion (£1.46 billion) to a reported “below £1 billion”.

We reported, from our Future Of Business Media conference last month, that former WSJ publisher Gordon Crovitz was working with Apollo and Strauss Zelnick’s private equity firm Zelnick Media for a bid for the New Scientist and Farmers Weekly publisher. It’s thought remaining bidders are Bain Capital (which has taken on Helen Alexander, the former CEO of The Economist Group as an advisor on the deal) and the group led by TPG and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. The RBI sell-off has hit the rocks amid the credit crisis. As has been reported before, Reed had been offering vendor financing from its own coffers to $330 million, besides helping bring in other banks for staple financing, and now it may pony up more its own money.

• Three Bidders Left For Reed Business; Former Publisher of WSJ Involved In One Group
• Reed Elsevier Plans Even Sweeter Sweetener For Struggling RBI Sell-Off: Report
• Reed’s RBI Sell-Off In The Balance? A Victim Of Credit Crunch?