Harcourt Offers to Buy $740 Million in NEC Shares

Publisher-retailer Harcourt General Inc. on Monday began to seek shares of National Education Corp., the world’s largest provider of correspondence courses, to purchase for $19.50 a share.

Harcourt, which announced its unsolicited bid last week, said the tender offer to NEC shareholders will expire on May 16 at 9 p.m. PDT, unless the company extends it, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Boston-area company said the offer for the Irvine educational company is contingent, among other things, on receiving a majority of the stock.

Harcourt’s offer amounts to $740 million, topping an all-stock deal that NEC had agreed to last month with Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. in Baltimore. The Sylvan deal, based on Monday’s closing price, is valued at $658 million.

Sylvan said that it will “proceed as planned” under its acquisition agreement. It stands to gain $30 million if its deal with NEC is broken.

NEC officials have until May 2 to respond to Harcourt’s action, a spokeswoman said.

Separately, Sylvan said it has agreed to acquire two companies known collectively as Educational Inroads in stock transactions valued Monday at a total of $41.9 million. Sylvan said the transaction is unrelated to its agreement with NEC.(James S. Granelli)