(Bloomberg) -- Library services companies Baker & Taylor and Media Source Inc. have held talks to combine and have approached direct lenders about financing for the potential deal, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Macquarie Group is working with the companies and has reached out to private credit firms for debt for the combined entity, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. Annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of the combined business — a measure of a company’s profits — would be as much as $25 million, they added.

Conversations are preliminary and details could change, the people said.

Smaller companies typically tap direct lenders for debt because they can’t access the high-yield bond or leveraged loan markets. 

Representatives for Baker & Taylor and Macquarie declined to comment. A representative for Vistria Group — Media Source’s private equity owner — didn’t provide comment. 

Baker & Taylor is a supplier of content, software and services to public and academic libraries in the US. Media Source curates books and e-books, among other services. 

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