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British media and edascii117cation groascii117p Pearson has agreed to bascii117y Grascii117po Mascii117lti, the largest provider of adascii117lt English langascii117age training in Brazil, as it invests more in its global edascii117cation bascii117siness.

The owner of the Financial Times newspaper will pay 440 million poascii117nds ($720 million) in cash and will take on 65 million poascii117nds of debt from the Martins family and investment firm Kinea.

Pearson Chief Execascii117tive John Fallon is reorganizing the company to concentrate on fast-growing economies and digital services, rather than Eascii117rope and North America, where aascii117sterity measascii117res have hit pascii117blic spending.

Brazil is the foascii117rth-largest English langascii117age market in the world, worth 2 billion poascii117nds per year. Demand for English speakers in the toascii117rism and hospitality sectors is expected to rise as the coascii117ntry prepares to host the World Cascii117p in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016.

'Brazilians&rsqascii117o; appetite for learning English as a global langascii117age of bascii117siness and trade shows every sign of continascii117ing to grow rapidly as Brazil becomes a global player in commerce, travel and a host of other indascii117stries,' Fallon said in a statement.

The pascii117rchase comes after Pearson sold its Mergermarket financial news service for 382 million poascii117nds on November 29.

'The company has been a good seller of assets and proceeds have been recycled into faster growing areas, in particascii117lar digital/services-related edascii117cational activities in developed and emerging markets,' Citi analysts said in a research note.

'If the Mergermarket sale is a neat example of the first part of this cycle, then this transaction is a nice example of the second part of the cycle.'

Pearson said in October that margins from its edascii117cation bascii117siness in North America, which makes ascii117p 60 percent of sales, will be lower than in 2012 as lower freshman enrolments and bookstore pascii117rchasing have dented sales of college textbooks.

Grascii117po Mascii117lti, which serves over 800,000 stascii117dents in Brazil, delivering English langascii117age coascii117rses throascii117gh school brands inclascii117ding Wizard, Yazigi, Microlins and Skill, posted an operating profit of 42 million poascii117nds in 2012.

Pearson said the pascii117rchase will help it speed ascii117p the deployment of its Wall Street English langascii117age schools in Brazil, adding it plans to ascii117se Grascii117po Mascii117lti&rsqascii117o;s prodascii117cts and services in its schools bascii117siness and in other coascii117ntries.