Subsid's Issue of Equity

Pearson PLC 24 October 2000 Not for distribution in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. RECOLETOS SETS PRICE FOR INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING Recoletos, the Spanish media group owned by Pearson, has set the price for its initial public offering at 12 Euros per share. The offering consists of 7,522,898 new Recoletos shares and 17,952,102 existing shares currently owned by Pearson. After the initial public offering the total number of Recoletos shares in issue will stand at 130,713,749, therefore valuing the equity of the company at 1.57 billion Euros. The IPO reduces Pearson's stake in Recoletos from 99.4% to 78.9%. If the underwriters of the offering exercise their option ('Green Shoe') on 2,547,500 further Recoletos shares owned by Pearson, Pearson's stake in Recoletos will be reduced to 77%. Recoletos shares are expected to begin trading on the Madrid Stock Exchange at 1200 noon local time on Wednesday 25 October 2000. Recoletos is one of the leading media groups in the Iberian peninsula. It publishes Expansion, Spain's pre-eminent financial and business newspaper and Marca, one of Europe's best-selling sports newspapers. Its online properties attract some of the biggest audiences in Spain. 'Recoletos is one of Spain's very best media companies,' said Marjorie Scardino, Pearson's Chief Executive. 'It has the ideas, brands and talent to capitalise on new technologies and to break into new Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. This IPO helps Recoletos to grow more quickly on-line and in Latin America and enables Pearson to share in the value it creates.' The Spanish prospectus ('Folleto') was filed with the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores ('CNMV') on 3 October 2000. More information: John Fallon/ Luke Swanson + 44 207 411 2310 Notes to editors: Recoletos (www.recoletos.es) is one of the leading media groups in the Iberian peninsula. It publishes Spain's leading financial and business publication, Expansion (www.expansiondirecto.com) and one of Europe's best-selling sports newspapers, Marca (www.Marca.es). It owns a 30% stake - and plays an active management role - in Unedisa, which publishes El Mundo (www.elmundo.com), one of Spain's leading newspapers; a 50% stake in Economica, which publishes Portugal's leading daily financial and business newspaper; and a 1.86% stake in RTL Group, Europe's leading integrated broadcasting and content group. Its newspaper titles including El Mundo sell around 750,000 copies every day; the company distributes more than 550,000 copies of its weekly and monthly magazines; and its internet media, including elmundo.es, generated 5.7 million visits and 89 million page views in June 2000. Recoletos also owns a stake in Diario Financiero, one of Chile's leading business and financial newspapers, and has recently acquired El Cronista, one of Argentina's leading business and financial newspapers. Pearson plc is an international media company. Its major business operations are: The Financial Times Group, which has an international network of business and financial newspapers and online services that are read by millions of business executives and investors every day; Pearson Education, the world's leading education business, which helps teachers teach and students learn at every stage and in every part of the world; Penguin Putnam, which is one of the pre-eminent names in consumer publishing, with an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers, and classic titles; and Recoletos, one of the top media companies in Spain. Pearson also owns a 22% stake in the RTL Group, Europe's leading integrated broadcasting and communications group. One of Pearson's most recent initiatives is Learning Network, the Internet's premier education source. For more information, go to www.pearson.com. The information contained herein is not for publication or distribution to persons in the United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan, and does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold without registration thereunder or pursuant to an available exemption therefrom. The materials do not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States; the securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or in any other jurisdiction other than in compliance with the laws of that jurisdiction. There is no intention to register any portion of the Offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.

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