Pearson to retain ownership of FT Business; completes purchase.

Pearson plc. (London) will retain ownership of its business magazine division, FT Business. A part of Pearson's FT Group, the unit produces ten magazine titles for the retail, personal and institutional finance industries.

Titles include: Investors Chronicle, a UK guide to equities and shareholding, The Banker, FT Expat, for "today's global citizen," Financial Advisor, FT Mandate, Investment Advisor, Money Management, Pensions Week, Pensions Management and European Pensions & Investment News.

Pearson said that it concluded that PT Business was worth more as a part of FT Group than potential bidders were prepared to pay. Evidently, Pearson felt the group was worth at least [pound sterling]80 million but only received bids in the [pound sterling]70-75 million range. Pearson ceo Marjorie Scardino acknowledged that the group was continuing to suffer from the economic downturn. Pearson had been in negotiations with Incisive Media plc. and an investment group led by former Pearson Financial Times Group ceo Stephen Hill.

In related news, Pearson Education (Upper Saddle River, NJ) has completed the acquisition of DDC Publishing (Lebanon, IN), a company that provides software and computer training titles to high schools, colleges, corporations, government organizations and home users. Topics covered include computer applications, Web design, programming, networking, and certification of learning levels.

Pearson said the purchase accelerates its entry into the software training market and nearly doubles the number of products it offers. Pearson Education includes such units as SAMS, Cisco Press, Adobe Press, Addison- Wesley and New Riders.