Harcourt Brace Ends Talks to Sell Assets, Debt

The textbook publishing and insurance concern Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. said it has terminated discussions on selling some of its assets and public debt.

Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who has served for a decade on HBJ’s board, has previously said the company was holding talks with Thomson Corp., a Canadian company that owns newspapers, other publishing interests and a travel business.

Harcourt, which has struggled under a huge debt incurred in avoiding a takeover in 1987, acknowledged last month that it was in talks but did not identify with whom it was talking or what was discussed.

Thomson offered no comment on the reports.

On Wednesday, Harcourt said the talks had involved acquisition of “certain limited assets of HBJ by a third party and the purchase of some or all of HBJ’s existing public debt at a discount” from book value.

HBJ incurred $2 billion in debt through a recapitalization that it undertook as it resisted a hostile 1987 takeover bid by British publisher Robert Maxwell.

Last year, Harcourt sold its theme parks business for about $1.1 billion--below what some analysts expected the company could get--in an effort to reduce debt.

But Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating agency, lowered the company’s debt rating in February.