New York—Private equity firm Wasserstein & Co. Thursday announced it has agreed to sell ALM, a b2b media company serving legal and business professionals, to London-based Incisive Media for $630 million.

ALM, formed in 1997, publishes 33 national and regional magazines and newspapers, including The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The National Law Journal and Real Estate Forum. The company is one of North America’s largest producers of conferences and trade shows for the legal profession.

Other ALM operations include book and newsletter publishing, court verdict and settlement reporting, professional education seminars, market research and content distribution. Incisive Media operates in four principal markets: financial services, risk management, professional services and marketing services.

Upon completion of the transaction, William Pollak, president-CEO of ALM, will join Incisive Media’s board.

The deal “is not a big surprise in that Incisive has been looking for a U.S. platform to expand its footprint in the States,” said Scott Peters, a managing director of media investment bank Jordan, Edmiston Group. He added: “ALM can now tap into Incisive’s global operations and cross-leverage into other markets. The intersection between finance and legal should provide for a lot of cross-pollination.”

Credit Suisse represented Wasserstein & Co. in the transaction. Incisive Media was advised by Greenhill and Co., Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

—Matthew Schwartz