The Economist magazine ends 172 years of British ownership as majority stake goes to Italian owners of Juventus football club
- The Agnellis have paid £287million to increase the family stake to 43.4%
- Other shareholders include the Cadburys, Rothschilds and the Schroders
- Agnellis give editor in chief Zanny Minton Beddoes their full backing
One of Italy's richest and most glamorous families, the Agnellis, has become the majority owner of the Economist after Pearson decided to cut its ties with the 172-year-old magazine.
Pearson has offloaded its 50 per cent stake in the Economist Group, following on from its sale last month of the Financial Times to Japan's Nikkei for £844million.
Italy's Exor, controlled by the billionaire Agnelli dynasty and through which the family controls carmaker Fiat Chrysler, paid £287million to increase its stake to 43.4 per cent - up from 4.7 per cent earlier.
Front cover: The Agnellis have paid £287million to increase the family's stake in the Economist to 43.4%
The sale also raises the stake held by the Rothschild family to 26 per cent from 21 per cent, while Pearson's remaining holding will be repurchased by the Economist for £182million.
Under Exor chief executive John Elkann, the Agnelli industrial clan is using high-profile assets to boost its clout in English-speaking cultures.
The Economist deal solidifies ties with other affluent families, from the Cadburys and Rothschilds to the Schroder banking dynasty, which also own stakes in the magazine group.
The Agnellis also control Turin's Juventus football club.
Elkann said: 'By increasing our investment in The Economist we are delighted to affirm our role as one of the group's long-term supportive shareholders, along with the Cadbury, Layton, Rothschild and Schroder families and other individual stable investors.
'We have always admired the editorial integrity and thoroughly global outlook that are the hallmarks of The Economist's success and we fully subscribe to its historic mission to 'take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.'
The clan: John Elkann was the chosen heir of his grandfather Gianni Agnelli, and is the chief executive of investment company Exor, which controls CNH Industrial, Juventus FC, Cushman & Wakefield and Fiat
The Economist Group includes the Economist magazine, the Economist Intelligence Unit and titles such as CQ Roll Call.
And unlike many print magazines still in circulation, it reports profits. Last year it posted a profit of £60million on sales of £328million and it has a circulation of around 1.6 million.
The Economist's editor is Zanny Minton Beddoes who is the seventeenth and first female editor-in-chief of the publication.
Pearson is selling the publication as part of plans to focus on its world leading education publishing business and said it would use the proceeds of the sale to invest in this strategy.
In charge: Zanny Minton Beddoes is the 17th and first female editor-in-chief for The Economist
It acquired its stake in The Economist in 1957 as part of its purchase of the FT, which had owned half of the magazine since 1929.
Its history dates back to 1843, when it was founded by a Scottish hat manufacturer to further the cause of free trade.
The deal is subject to approval by regulators, shareholders and the group's independent trustees, and is expected to complete in the final quarter of this year.
Pearson chief executive John Fallon said: 'Pearson is proud to have been a part of The Economist's success over the past 58 years, and our shareholders have benefited greatly from its growth.
'We have enjoyed supporting the company as it has built a global business, sustaining the excellence of its journalism and ensuring it is read more widely. We wish all our colleagues at The Economist every future success.'
The Economist said the deal would see new measures to safeguard its editorial independence.
Group chairman Rupert Pennant-Rea said: 'We have been blessed over many years to have had in the Financial Times and subsequently Pearson a shareholder that understood and supported the ethos of the group.
'With their decision to sell, the board's priority was to secure the independence of the ownership of the group and the continued editorial independence of The Economist.
'The transaction has the full support of the board, the trustees and the current editor of The Economist as well as her surviving predecessors.
'The board is also pleased to welcome Exor, an exemplary shareholder for the past six years, in its new role as the anchor investor in the group. Exor has shown great respect for the culture and traditions of The Economist.'
The Economist is currently in the process the sale of selling its upmarket office headquarters in St James - valued at around £150million.
Pennant-Rea said new offices would be found 'with more space for our digital ambitions and the needs of a 21st century media company'.
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