Reed-Elsevier to Buy San Leandro Firm

Anglo-Dutch publishing group Reed-Elsevier, seeking to expand its highly profitable scientific-publishing business, said it agreed to buy MDL Information Systems Inc. of San Leandro for $320 million. Reed-Elsevier, which is launching an online data-delivery service for scientific journals this summer, said its Elsevier Science Inc. unit will offer about $32 a share for all outstanding shares in MDL--a hefty premium over the stock’s closing price Friday of $16.75. The move would allow Reed, which publishes a host of scientific journals and owns the Lexis-Nexis information service, to expand its own online science database and cross-sell its journals with MDL’s database service. MDL’s stock soared on the news, jumping $14 to close at $31.25 on the Nasdaq market. Elsevier Science publishes more than 1,200 journals and plans to start delivering them online this year under the name Science Direct. Reed International and Elsevier each own 50% of Amsterdam-based Reed Elsevier.