By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Collective Majority Shareholders, Pearson Education Limited and Longman Group (Overseas Holdings) Limited, Tuesday announced the divestment of 51 percent (51%) of their combined holdings in Learn Africa Plc; formerly Longman Nigeria Plc.
The Company said this in a Notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and made available to www.investadvocateng.com in Lagos Nigeria.
“The Company has notified The Exchange that the Board of Directors of Pearson Education Limited and Longman Group (Overseas Holdings) Limited. (Collectively the “Majority Shareholdersâ€ÂÂ), have both resolved to divest their combined 51% holdings in Learn Africa Plc. (formally Longman Nigeria Plc. – the “Companyâ€ÂÂ)†the Notice said.
Learn Africa affirm that the majority shareholders (the Donors) intend to dispose of their 393,450,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each (51% shareholding) of the company (“Shares) by way of gift to the minority shareholders of the company (the “Doneesâ€ÂÂ) on a pro-rata basis.
“In this respect, the Donors have executed a Deed of Gift pursuant to which the transfer of the shares will be done without consideration. The Donees are not required to take any action to be entitled to receive the shares. However, only shareholders of the company other than the Donors as of the close of business on March 8, 2012 (the “Closure Dateâ€ÂÂ) shall be entitled to the shares†Longman said.
According to the Firm the divestment is being undertaken to enable the majority shareholders to pursue their strategic focus of operating a broad education business model rather than narrow business model focused exclusively on textbooks which Learn Africa Plc is presently operating.
“Due to this strategic misalignment, Pearson has withdrawn its trading agreement with Learn Africa Plc. and has incorporated a company: Pearson Educational Publishing Limited, to pursue its strategic objectives of textbook publishing business as well as investment in new areas of the Nigerian education sector, such as digital learning, qualifications, vocational training, teacher development and assessments†the Notice affirmed.
