【英语财经】培生拟4亿英镑出售经济学人集团股权 Pearson set to sell Economist stake for ￡400m

Pearson

is expected to announce the sale of its stake in the publisher of The Economist magazine as early as this week for about ￡400m, according to people close to the matter.

The De Rothschild family and

Exor, the investment vehicle of Italy’s Agnelli family, are likely to emerge as the largest single shareholders in the Economist Group, the people said.

The deal would be the biggest shake-up in the publisher’s ownership since 1957, when Pearson acquired its 50 per cent stake along with the Financial Times. Pearson agreed last month to sell the FT and related titles to Japanese business publisher Nikkei for ￡844m, as it seeks to focus on education rather than media assets.

According to two people close to the situation, Pearson held unsuccessful talks with the

Hearst Corporation, about a sale. It is not clear why those negotiations broke down. Pearson, the Economist Group and the De Rothschilds declined to comment.

Exor — which has built a 4.7 per cent stake in The Economist since

John Elkann, its chief executive, was appointed to the board in 2009 — has previously said it is looking to increase its stake but not to seek a majority of the group. It declined to comment further.

Any sale of Pearson’s stake must be approved by the Economist Group’s four trustees, whose role is to protect the independence of The Economist magazine. The lack of a controlling shareholder is seen as a means to protect the magazine’s independence. Lynn Forester de Rothschild and her husband Sir Evelyn currently control about 21 per cent of shares.

Exor controls carmaker

Fiat, which is the largest shareholder in

RCS Mediagroup, publisher of Corriere della Sera and owner of newspaper, La Stampa.

Mr Elkann sits on the board of the Economist Group and Rupert Murdoch’s

News Corp. As part of the deal, both the De Rothschilds and Exor are expected to receive additional seats on the board of the Economist Group.

Following the sale of its Economist stake, Pearson’s remaining media asset would be 47 per cent of book publisher

Penguin Random House.

知情人士表示，培生集团(Pearson)预计最早在本周宣布以约4亿英镑出售其所持有的《经济学人》(The Economist)杂志出版商的股权。

他们表示，德罗斯柴尔德(De Rothschild)家族以及意大利阿涅利(Agnelli)家族旗下投资机构Exor可能成为经济学人集团(the Economist Group)的两大股东。

这笔交易将成为自1957年以来这家出版商最大的所有权变动。1957年，培生集团在收购英国《金融时报》(Financial Times)的同时，获得了经济学人集团50%的股权。培生上月同意将《金融时报》及相关子刊以8.44亿英镑出售给日本财经出版商日本经济新闻社(Nikkei)。培生正寻求专注于教育（而非媒体）资产。

两名知情人士表示，培生曾与赫斯特集团(Hearst Corporation)谈判出售事宜，但未成功。目前尚不清楚谈判因何破裂。培生、经济学人集团和德罗斯柴尔德家族拒绝置评。

自从Exor的首席执行官约翰?艾尔肯(John Elkann)于2009年进入经济学人集团董事会以来，Exor已持有该集团4.7%的股权。Exor曾表示考虑增持股权，但不寻求取得多数股权。Exor拒绝进一步置评。

培生要出售经济学人集团的股权，必须先取得该集团四位受托人的批准。这些受托人的职责是维护《经济学人》杂志的独立性。不让任何一家股东取得控股地位，被视为维护该杂志独立性的一条途径。目前，林恩?福雷斯特?德罗斯柴尔德(Lynn Forester de Rothschild)和她丈夫埃弗林爵士(Sir Evelyn)持有《经济学人》约21%的股权。

Exor控股汽车制造商菲亚特(Fiat)，而后者是《晚邮报》(Corriere della Sera)的出版商、《新闻报》(La Stampa)所有人RCS Mediagroup的最大股东。

艾尔肯是经济学人集团和鲁珀特?默多克(Rupert Murdoch)旗下新闻集团(News Corp)的董事。作为交易的一部分，德罗斯柴尔德家族和Exor预计都将获得经济学人集团董事会的更多席位。

出售经济学人集团股权之后，培生剩下的媒体资产将是图书出版商企鹅兰登书屋(Penguin Random House) 47%的股权。

译者/邢嵬