'Exor to get 40% of The Economist'

Details of the deal are still being finalised

Britain's Pearson should announce the sale of its 50 per cent stake in The Economist to Italy's Exor and the Rothschild family for £400 million ($624 million) as early as this week, two sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Exor, the holding of the Agnelli family which is a controlling shareholder in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is expected to build a stake of around 40 per cent in The Economist Group after completion of the deal from 4.72 per cent now, one of the sources said.

The source said details of the deal were still being finalised, and it could take some time before Exor reaches the 40 per cent level.

The source added that Exor and the Rothschild family, which currently controls around 21 per cent of The Economist, were negotiating a governance agreement that would give them equal voting powers as leading shareholders of the group.

Pearson, which last month announced the sale of the Financial Times newspaper to Japanese media group Nikkei, declined to comment.