{"value":{"id":1349385,"memberId":4210,"member":null,"memberRole":"Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth ","uin":"HLWS237","dateMade":"2021-07-22T00:00:00","answeringBodyId":208,"answeringBodyName":"Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office","title":"British Council","text":"<p>My Honourable Friend, the Minister for Asia (Nigel Adams), has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:</p><ol><li>I can today inform Parliament that the British Council, a non-departmental public body of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, will sell its IELTS English language test business in India to IDP Education, for £130 million. The business will be sold on debt free, cash free basis.</li></ol><p>Rationale</p><ol start=\"2\"><li>Like many organisations, Covid-19 has had a significant financial impact on the British Council’s operations. The proceeds from the sale will strengthen the British Council’s financial position and support its modernisation process.</li></ol><p>Format and timing</p><ol start=\"3\"><li>Due to the nature of the agreement between the British Council and its IELTS partners, there is only one possible buyer of the British Council’s India IELTS business. Ernst & Young provided an independent valuation, which concluded that the offer for the business was fair and reasonable.</li><li>UKGI has worked closely with the FCDO providing valuable advice on commercial aspects of the British Council’s outline and full business cases for the transaction.</li></ol><p>Fiscal impacts</p><ol start=\"5\"><li>I can confirm that the net sale proceeds of £120 million were above the government’s retention value range.</li></ol><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Metric</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Impact (over a 5yr horizon)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Net sale proceeds</p></td><td><p>£120 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Retention value range</p></td><td><p>Above</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Public Sector Net Borrowing</p></td><td><p>No immediate impact</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Public Sector Net Debt</p></td><td><p>Improved by a total of £120m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Public Sector Net Financial Liabilities</p></td><td><p>Improved by a total of £120m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Public Sector Net Liabilities</p></td><td><p>Improved by a total of £118m</p></td></tr></tbody></table>","house":"Lords","noticeNumber":0,"hasAttachments":false,"hasLinkedStatements":true,"linkedStatements":[{"linkedStatementId":1349384,"linkType":"JointStatement","linkDate":"2021-07-22T00:00:00"}],"attachments":[]},"links":[{"rel":"self","href":"/Statements/1349385","method":"GET"}]}