Apollo drops plans to buy Pearson after £7bn bid was rejected - Forexsail

• Kaye
• 30 Mar, 2022

Private equity group Apollo has dropped plans to buy the UK education publisher Pearson weeks after its £7bn takeovers were rejected.

Apollo “has been unable to reach an agreement with the board of Pearson as to the terms of an offer”, the US buyout group said in a statement on Wednesday. Under UK takeover rules, it must now walk away from bidding for the publisher for six months.
 

The move brings an end to a plan that would have been one of the largest-ever private equity deals for a listed UK company, at a time when cash-rich buyout groups are increasingly keen to find bargains on London’s stock market.

It also marks the latest high-profile target that Apollo has circled in the UK without ultimately striking a deal, having previously considered buying supermarkets Asda and Wm Morrison.
 

The $481bn buyout group is also among the potential buyers of the UK chemist chain Boots. Shares in the FTSE 100 education group fell 12 per cent in the wake of Apollo’s statement.

The deal would have allowed Apollo to draw on a playbook it used when it owned rival textbook publisher McGraw Hill. Under Apollo’s ownership, the company shifted its focus toward digital products. The buyout group sold McGraw Hill to Platinum Equity for $4.5bn last year.

Pearson this month said it had rejected an 854.2p offer from Apollo, which it said undervalued the business. It said it had also rejected an 800p offer in November. Source: Financial times...