5th May 2006 07:01
Pearson PLC05 May 2006 05 May 2006 PEARSON TO ACQUIRE PARAVIA BRUNO MONDADORI: GAINS LEADING POSITION IN ITALIAN EDUCATION MARKET Pearson, the international education and information company, today announcedthe acquisition of an 80% stake in Paravia Bruno Mondadori Editori (PBM), one ofItaly's leading educational publishing companies. There are some 6.5m school students in Italy, and around €620m a year is spenton textbooks by parents (acting on textbook "adoption" decisions made byteachers). PBM publishes for all types of Italian schools (primary, lowersecondary, upper secondary) and across all subjects (modern languages, maths,science, humanities, grammar/literature, social sciences and vocational) and hasa catalogue of more than 3,000 school titles. In addition, PBM publishesuniversity textbooks, teaching materials and dictionaries. Formed in 2000 fromthe merger of the Edizioni Bruno Mondadori and Paravia publishing houses, it isbased in Milan and Turin. In 2005, PBM had net sales of €70m and gross assets of €68m at the year end. Pearson expects the acquisition to enhance adjusted earnings per share andreturn on invested capital from 2007, its first full year, and to be earningsneutral in 2006, including integration costs. The acquisition is subject toregulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of2006. Pearson is the world's leading education company, with 2005 sales of more than$3bn in the US and $1.4bn in other parts of the world. This acquisition supportsPearson's strategy of expanding its international education business through acombination of organic growth and selected investments in local publishers. John Fallon, chief executive of Pearson Education, Europe, the Middle East andAfrica, said: "PBM is a strong, well-managed company with a great publishing pedigree and fullof assets and people who will add a lot of value to Pearson. This acquisitiongives Pearson a leading position in one of Europe's largest school publishingmarkets and strengthens our existing education businesses in Italy. Thecombination of PBM's experience and expertise in Italy with our owninternational scale and capabilities will create new opportunities to meet theneeds of teachers and students." After the acquisition, PBM will merge with Pearson's existing Italian business,Pearson Education Italia. Pearson will hold the majority stake of the combinedbusiness, with the minority stake held by Bruno Mondadori shareholders led byRoberto Gulli, currently Managing Director (publishing) of PBM. Roberto Gulliand Agostino Cattaneo, currently General Manager (finance & operations) of PBM,will lead the newly combined business reporting to Bill Anderson, President ofPearson's continental European schools and European-wide English LanguageTeaching businesses. Roberto Gulli, managing director of PBM added: "Pearson is the world's leading education company, with a great publishingtradition, imprints of indisputable quality and values that fit very well withour own. In our negotiations, we have developed a shared business plan that willsupport PBM's future expansion in Italy and offers us new opportunities to growinternationally. I am delighted that we are able to offer our people such anexciting future." Ends For more information: Luke Swanson/ Simon Mays-Smith/ Deborah Lincoln +44 (0)20 7010 2310 Pearson EducationEducating 100 million people worldwide, Pearson Education (www.pearsoned.com) isthe global leader in educational publishing, providing scientificallyresearch-based print and digital programmes to help students of all ages learnat their own pace, in their own way. Almost all students in America learn from aPearson programme at some point in their educational career. Some 25,000 USschools and one million teachers and students use Pearson technology to helpinstruct preK-12 students and manage their progress. Pearson provides schoolswith custom services to create, deliver, score and report educationalassessments, both in print and online, that help promote learning. Outside the US, Pearson is a leading player in meeting local school, curriculum,and assessment needs in markets as diverse as the UK, South Africa, Egypt, andHong Kong. In countries throughout Europe and around the world, more peoplelearn English as a foreign language using Pearson Longman textbooks than thoseof any other publisher. Pearson is the market leader worldwide in Higher Education in print and digitalproducts, both through sales of US-published materials and through its diverserange of local publishing adaptations and translations. In the US, more thanthree million college students are pursuing their courses online using ourprogrammes and applications. In Europe, Pearson is a growing Higher Educationand Professional publisher in French, German, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. Thecompany is home to such renowned publishing brands as Pearson Prentice Hall,Pearson Longman, Pearson Scott Foresman, Pearson Early Learning, PearsonLearning Group, Pearson Digital Learning, and Pearson Addison Wesley. PearsonVUE is a global leader in computer-based professional testing, delivered througha network of more than 4,000 test centres across 145 countries, providingtesting services for customers including the National Council of State Boards ofNursing, the GMAT test for the Graduate Management Admissions Council, and inthe UK, the driving theory test for the Driving Standards Agency. PearsonEducation is part of Pearson (LSE: PSON; NYSE: PSO). In addition to PearsonEducation, Pearson's primary operations include the Financial Times Group andthe Penguin Group. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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