LONDON (AP) — British publisher Pearson PLC said yesterday it is selling its 61 percent stake in financial market data provider Interactive Data Corp. to private equity firms Silver Lake and Warburg Pincus in a $2 billion pretax deal.

Pearson, which publishes Penguin books, the Financial Times and The Economist periodicals, says it expects the deal — announced yesterday — to close by the end of the third quarter of this year.

Under the agreement, Interactive Data shareholders will receive $33.86 in cash for each share of common stock — a 33 percent premium on the company's share price in January before it announced it was reviewing "strategic alternatives."

Pearson shares were down 1.5 percent at 1,305 pence yesterday morning.