French media giant Hachette SA said Sunday...

French media giant Hachette SA said Sunday that its $448.6-million cash tender offer for the Danbury, Conn.-based encyclopedia publisher Grolier Inc. was nearing completion. Under the tender offer that expired Saturday, a subsidiary of Hachette paid $24.25 per share for the 90% of Grolier that it does not already own--about 16.6 million commons shares. Hachette, the second-largest publisher in Europe, had previously twice sweetened its offer to buy Grolier. Hachette said it expects to complete the acquisition in May.