Acquisition

Reed Elsevier PLC
02 June 2004

Press Release

Issued on behalf of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV


Reed Elsevier to acquire Saxon Publishers

Reed Elsevier Group plc today announced that its global education division,
Harcourt Education, has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Saxon
Publishers Inc.  Saxon is a leading publisher in the US education market of
skills-based instructional materials for pre-kindergarten through 12th grades in
mathematics, phonics and early childhood learning.


The Saxon business will expand Harcourt Education's supplemental and alternative
basal product portfolio, particularly in the important mathematics subject area,
and will complement the current Harcourt strengths within supplemental
publishing in reading and language arts.  The Saxon business will be part of the
Harcourt Achieve supplemental publishing division.

For further information please contact:


Susanna Smart, Reed Elsevier, tel [phone]






                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange