Dutch Publisher Acquiring ACNielsen

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) â€” The Dutch publishing company that owns Nielsen's U.S. media ratings business is now buying the overseas ratings operations for $2.3 billion. <br><br>The deal will give

Monday, December 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) â€” The Dutch publishing company that owns Nielsen's U.S. media ratings business is now buying the overseas ratings operations for $2.3 billion.

The deal will give VNU NV, based in Haarlem, Netherlands, a worldwide market intelligence group and reunites the two halves of Nielsen's ratings business that were split in 1996 into two companies: Nielsen Media Research and ACNielsen Corp.

VNU is offering $36.75 a share for U.S.-based ACNielsen Corp. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, subject to approval by regulators, both companies said Monday.

The price being offered represents a 49 percent premium over ACNielsen's closing price Friday of $24.63 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.

The deal comes just 13 months after VNU bought Nielsen Media Research, which conducts ratings research in the United States.

ACNielsen's media ratings services are outside North America. It also measures and analyzes product sales and consumer behavior.

The deal also will give VNU control of Nielsen/NetRatings, which analyzes the use of web sites and counts Yahoo, Microsoft and AltaVista among its clients.

VNU's chief financial officer, Frans Cremers, said the Dutch company will sell its consumer and educational information businesses, which expect to have sales of $748 million in 2000.

In a statement from his headquarters in Stamford, Conn., ACNielsen chief executive Nicholas L. Trivisonno said the company is pleased with the terms of the deal ``which affirms our commitment to deliver value to shareholders of ACNielsen. At the same time, by joining forces with VNU, we will create global leadership in marketing and media information services.''

VNU said the deal is part of its strategy to give its international market research operations ``branded and recession-resistant business.''

VNU, based in the Dutch city of Haarlem, employs 16,000 people and had revenue of more than $2.8 billion last year.

ACNielsen, with 21,000 employees and annual revenues of over $1.5 billion from activities in more than 100 countries. It has been measuring product movement, consumer behavior and product dynamics since 1933.

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On the Net:

VNU site: htttp://www.vnu.com