Pearson raises pounds 58m on sale of Spanish theme park stake

PEARSON, the Financial Times to Baywatch group, yesterday took another step towards concentrating on its key businesses when it sold its holding in a Spanish theme park for pounds 58m.

The company will receive pounds 40m for its 40.5 per cent shareholding in the Port Aventura complex outside Barcelona. Universal Studios, the film division of the Seagram drinks and entertainment group, will buy a 37 per cent stake. La Caixa, the Spanish bank, will buy 3.5 per cent.

Pearson will also receive an pounds 18m payment to compensate its Tussauds division, which had been running the park, for the termination of its management contract.

Marjorie Scardino, Pearson chief executive, said the deal was part of the group's move to sell assets where it did not exert full control. "This disposal enables the Tussauds team to focus its efforts on international operations where it has full management control and can capitalise on the value of the global Tussauds franchise," she said.

Tussauds' main asset is the Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum in London. It also runs the Planetarium and Rock Circus in London, as well as the UK theme parks Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventure. It recently bought Thorpe Park, another amusement park in Surrey.

Analysts have long expected Pearson to sell the Tussauds group and recycle the cash into its main media and publishing business. The group has in the past approached Rank, the leisure group, about acquiring the business.

Pearson's acquisition of Simon & Schuster's educational publishing division raised expectations that Tussauds would be among the assets sold to pay off debts. A sale would be likely to fetch about pounds 300m. Pearson's shareholding in the Lazard investment banking house is also widely tipped to be sold. However, a spokesman for Pearson yesterday said Tussauds was committed to opening new Madame Tussaud's outlets in New York and Las Vegas.

Pearson paid a total of pounds 37.5m for its stake in Port Aventura, which opened in May 1995. Other shareholders are Spanish utility Fecsa, US brewer Anheuser Busch and La Caixa. The park has attracted 8 million visitors.

Pearson shares slipped 14p to 1,051p as the market expressed its disappointment that the group had not announced more significant sales.