Baring Private Equity Asia and CITIC Capital bought WSE for around $300m (£225m), but the deal is only expected to improve Pearson’s debt by around $100m – a “paltry sum”, according to analysts at Liberum.
In its 2016 full-year results this February, Pearson – which used to own the Financial Times and The Economist – revealed net debt had escalated to a massive £1.1bn. The deal incurred $50m of tax and transaction fees, while $150m of cash will remain in WSE.
In February, Pearson announced it was exploring a shift away from “large-scale direct delivery services”, and as part of that would consider partnering WSE and its language training business Global Education.