According to Reed Elsevier, the acquisition announced of whole of Harcourt General Inc. for $4.45 billion and the assumption of $1.20 billion in debt, and on-sale of Higher Education and certain Corporate and Professional Services businesses to The Thomson Corporation for $2.06 billion. The combination of Harcourt Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) business and Elsevier Science provides a strong leadership position across the entire scientific, technical and medical spectrum. The company also stated that the acquisition of Harcourt K-12 (kindergarten to grade 12) Education and Testing transforms Reed Elsevier's education business to create a new global publishing division. It establishes an excellent position in the fast growing US educational market. Commenting on the transaction, Reed Elsevier's Chief Executive, Crispin Davis, said: "The Harcourt STM and Educational businesses are of outstanding quality in very attractive markets and the strategic fit is excellent. The combination of our businesses provides an exceptional platform for growth, focused on new and demonstrably superior Internet information services and solutions. The acquisition of Harcourt transforms our position in schools education. The education market has a strong growth dynamic. The combination of Harcourt Education with Reed Educational and Professional Publishing is exceptionally well positioned to drive new print and electronic product programmes and to grow faster than the market. This acquisition represents a major step forward in our strategy announced in February. In August, we announced good progress in the execution of our strategy and results that were ahead of our targets. This progress has very much continued in the second half. We have increasing confidence in our vision and our ability to execute the strategy successfully to create value for shareholders."