The new head of publisher Taylor & Francis has re-affirmed his company's interest in buying Blackwell Publishing.

David Smith, who has taken over as chief executive from Anthony Selvey, also confirmed the firm was looking at the academic division of Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwers.

But Mr Smith, who previously worked for Kluwer's legal, tax and business division, added it was possible his firm, which has its journals division in Abingdon, could end up buying both companies.

Whether the £300m bid for Oxford academic publisher Blackwell's will be considered depends on the outcome of an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for next Thursday. Rebel shareholder Toby Blackwell is determined to sell the company for up to £400m, but the board, chaired by nephew Nigel, wants to keep it independent for up to three years before floating it on the London Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, Mr Selvey has left the Taylor & Francis hotseat £4.4m richer, by exercising his right to 750,000 share options. He bought the shares at 13.3p each and sold them at 605p.

Investment bank ABN Amro expects the company to achieve organic growth of 17 per cent a year over the next two years. It has promised to support Taylor & Francis's bid for Blackwell's with a loan of £275m.