One of the world’s oldest publications is up for sale after FTSE giant Informa said it would offload Lloyd’s List.

The trade title dates back to 1734, when Edward Lloyd pinned a copy of his shipping list to the wall of his coffee house on London’s Lombard Street.

Publishing business Informa announced plans on Tuesday to offload its portfolio of data and consultancy brands including Lloyd’s List. It said it wants to focus on its core academic markets, and trade shows in expectation of a return to events following the pandemic.

Lloyd’s List has been part of Informa since its inception in 1998, when specialist publisher and conference firm IBC Group merged with Lloyd’s of London Press.

“The List”, as it was known in eighteenth-century London, provided free shipping information service to Lloyd’s clients in the hope they would in turn invest in insurance from him.  

After Lloyd died in 1743, the site remained a hotspot for merchants, ship owners and underwriters, becoming the centre of insurance in the capital, with The List as a key part of the furniture.

It then became one of the world’s longest-running papers until 2013, when the print version was scrapped to focus on the website and app.