LONDON, July 16 (UPI) -- Reed Elsevier PLC Monday said it would sell the remaining parts of its Harcourt Education division to U.S. publisher Houghton Mifflin Co. for $4 billion.
The global Anglo-Dutch publisher said it would sell Harcourt Education, Harcourt Trade and Greenwood-Heinemann for $3.7 billion in cash and $300 million in stock from Houghton Mifflin parent Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group PLC.
The combined business will be led by Houghton Mifflin Chief Executive Officer Tony Lucki, a former CEO of Harcourt Education and Harcourt Inc.
The transaction, expected to be completed by early 2008, is subject to regulatory review.
Reed Elsevier said it would return the net proceeds from the sale to shareholders through a special dividend.
The company, with headquarters in London and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, will own an 11.8 percent interest in Boston's Houghton Mifflin once the deal closes.
Reed Elsevier said this year that it intended to sell its education publishing businesses to focus on other publishing units.
Pearson PLC agreed to buy Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International for $950 million in May.
Reed Elsevier was formed by the 1993 merger of British trade book and magazine publisher Reed International and Dutch science publisher Elsevier NV.
