3i sells Malmberg to Sanoma

3i has sold its investment in Malmberg Investments, the educational publisher of schoolbooks, CD Roms and Internet applications, to SanomaWSOY Group’s WSOY division for E221.9m. 3i bought the Malmberg Investments business back in August 2001 when it acquired, through a management buyout, two VNU companies, called LCG Malmberg, which is based in The Netherlands, and Uitgeverij Van In, which is based in Belgium. 3i paid E195m for those businesses, following a disclosure by VNU in February that same year that it was seeking a buyer for the businesses, which it subsequently did via an auction.

The deal is subject to Dutch and Belgian competition authority approval. Allen & Overy and Greenhill provided advice to 3i.