Pearson PLC (LSE:PSON) confirmed it has rejected the latest proposal from Apollo Global Managment Inc, causing the share price to surge 22% to 794p.
The FTSE 100 company said it rejected Monday's "unsolicited, preliminary and highly conditional proposal" from the private equity firm of 854.2p a share, having turned down a similar proposal in November of 800p per share.
It said that the proposal "significantly undervalued the company and its future prospects."
The board of the publishing and education services business said in a statement that it is "confident that the lifelong learning strategy set out in March 2021 will create sustainable, long-term value for Pearson stakeholders."
It also added that its full-year results demonstrated the company was building momentum towards executing the new strategy.
Chief executive Andy Bird, formerly of Disney, has been trying to modernise the company from a textbook maker to Netflix-like paid subscription learning service.
Pearson's statement was in response to a release issued by Apollo today, which said it was in the “preliminary stages of evaluating a possible cash offer” for the publishing and education company.
Both Pearson and Apollo stressed that “there can be no certainty that an offer will be made.”