Pearson to sell Economist stake for 469 million pounds

“Exor has agreed to purchase 27.8 percent of The Economist Group’s ordinary shares for consideration of £227.5 million (€319 million) and all of the B special shares for consideration of £59.5 million (€83.6 million) from Pearson”, the statement said. Pearson’s remaining ordinary shares will be bought by The Economist Group for 182 million pounds, Pearson said Wednesday in a statement.

The move comes after Pearson sold the Financial Times and announced it would be focusing on its educational operations.

British publishing and education company Pearson Plc.

Analysts believe Pearson will also sell its 47% stake in book publisher Penguin Random House in its drive to target education.

The Economist Group includes the Economist magazine, the Economist Intelligence Unit and titles such as CQ Roll Call.

Exor, the holding of the Agnelli family, which is best known for its controlling stake in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is expected to build a stake of around 40pc in The Economist Group after completion of the deal from 4.72pc now, a source said.

The sale forms part of major restructuring at Pearson, which wants to focus exclusively on its education publishing business. John Elkann, Chairman and Chief Executive of EXOR, and a non-executive director of The Economist, commented: “By increasing our investment in The Economist we are delighted to affirm our role as one of the Group’s long-term supportive shareholders, along with the Cadbury, Layton, Rothschild and Schroder families and other individual stable investors”. The transaction, which has the unanimous support of The Economist board of directors, will result in EXOR becoming the Group’s single largest shareholder.