Cinven, the UK-based private equity house, is buying the business-to-business publishing unit of Vivendi Universal, the French media and communications company, for €2bn ($1.8bn).

The acquisition marks a shift for Cinven from consumer to trade publishing. Cinven sold its stake in IPC, the UK consumer magazine publisher, in July. The price, £1.15bn, (€1.83bn) was lower than Cinven would have hoped for when it bought IPC in 1998, mainly because the company was suffering from decline in advertising revenues due to the economic downturn.