A group of seven private equity firms is close to making a bid for Dutch publisher and market research giant VNU NV for about 7.2 billion euros ($8.6 billion), the Wall Street Journal reported.

The consortium of bidders which includes AlpInvest Partners, The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Permira and Thomas H. Lee Partners has been sifting through VNU’s financial and operating data and is expected to make an offer as soon as today for around 28.50 euros (about $33.85), the Journal said.

In mid-January, VNU, the owner of the U.S. Nielsen television ratings and the publisher of the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard magazine, confirmed that it had received a buyout offer worth up to $8.87 billion from a group of private equity firms. The bid was for between $34 and $34.60 per share. In a statement on Feb. 7, the company said it would take a few more weeks to decide on the tentative offer.

It’s unclear how VNU may react to the bid, the newspaper said, as some of VNU’s biggest shareholders as well as Dutch institutional investors have said the company would be worth more if it were broken up and sold off in three pieces.

Netherlands-based VNU became a takeover target after investors forced the company to abandon a nearly $8 billion acquisition of IMS Health last year.