Abril Educacao Drops Most in Five Weeks on Report of Share Sale

Abril Educacao SA, a unit of publisher Grupo Abril, fell the most in five weeks after Valor Economico reported that the company may sell shares to finance the acquisition of Wise Up, an English-language school.

Shares dropped 1.2 percent to 49 reais at 1:42 p.m. in Sao Paulo, the biggest one-day decline on a closing basis since Jan. 11. Trading volume was 1.1 times the three-month full-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Abril agreed to pay 877 million reais ($447 million) for Wise Up on Feb. 8, or about 10 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The Sao Paulo-based company is preparing a share offering of 500 million reais to 600 million reais to finance the acquisition, Valor Economico reported without saying where it got the information.

The company said today in a regulatory filing in response to the newspaper’s report that it is constantly looking at alternatives including share sales.

Abril’s shares have doubled in the past year while the benchmark Bovespa index has fallen 14 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Julia Leite in New York at jleite3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net