Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier has clinched a deal to buy US education services provider Harcourt General for 4bn, writes David Duffy.
Under the deal, Reed, which employs several hundred people in North Oxford and Kidlington, will sell part of the newly-acquired business to online information and software group Thomson Corporation for 1.5bn.
The divisions to be sold on are in higher education, corporate and professional services, while Reed will keep the scientific, technical and medical publishing operations.
The purchase is expected to make Reed a world leader in medical publishing and establish it in the fast-growing US schools education market.
It is already the biggest international supplier of professional and scientific information, with annual combined sales of several billion pounds.
Reed chief executive Crispin Davis said: The acquisition of Harcourt transforms our position in schools education, a market which has a strong growth dynamic.
The combination of Harcourt education with Reed educational and professional publishing is exceptionally well positioned to drive new print and electronic product programmes and to grow faster than the market.
The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
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