ITV may be on menu for Hollick

LORD Hollick said he would not rule out making a bid for ITV after agreeing to take a top role at US private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Labour peer Hollick, the outgoing chief executive of United Business Media, joins KKR in April as a managing director.

Hollick, 59, pulled off the media deal of the decade when he sold UBM's ITV assets to Granada for £1.75bn in 2000 at the top of the market.

He said buying back ITV 'would have a nice ring to it - to sell at the top and buy lower down'. He added: 'I wouldn't rule anything out. We are looking for really good businesses where management could make a difference.'

Hollick is well known for selling the Express newspaper titles to Richard Desmond in 2000. He can draw on a UBM pension of up to £726,000 a year, but that will pale into insignificance compared to the millions that private equity chiefs can rake in.

He said 'there was a fleeting moment' when he thought about hanging up his boots. 'But what I enjoy doing is building and running great businesses.'