HARPER &lt;HPR> GETS BID FROM HARCOURT &lt;HBJ>

  Harper and Row Publishers Inc said it
  received an acquisition offer from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
  INc to acquire all of Harper and Row's shares at 50 dlrs a
  share in cash.
      Harper said it will consider the proposal, including such
  possible concerns as anti-trust and other legal considerations.
      On Monday, Harper and Row received a surprise 34 dlr-a-
  share bid from investor Theodore Cross, owner of six pct of the
  shares, for the stock he does not own.
       Harcourt made clear in its offer that it will step aside
  if Harper's directors and shareholders reject the bid, Harper
  said.
      Harper said the board has previously expressed a strong
  determination to remain an independent publishing enterprise.
      Harper also said that New World Pictures, a shareholder,
  has requested a copy of Harper's shareholder list to be used in
  soliciting proxies.
      New World has 30,800 shares of the total 4.4 mln shares.
      Harper and Row's stock closed off 3/4 to 33-1/2 after
  rising 9-1/4 points yesterday.
      Shareholders are due to vote April 2 on a shareholders
  rights plan designed to thwart hostile takeovers.
      Ivan Obolensky, an analyst with the investment banking for
  of Sterling Grace and Co said Harper and Row is one of the few
  remaining independent publishers with a "back list" of authors
  stretching back 200 years.
      He said as long as the company maintains copyrights with
  the estates of deceased authors, it controls all motion picture
  and television rights to the stories. And he said new printing
  technologies make new editions a profitable business.
      "Harcourt Brace needs a back list of that nature and is
  willing to pay up for it," Obolensky said. But he said Harper
  and Row "has plenty of beef to warrant a 50 dlr bid.
  

