NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — US private equity giant Blackstone has agreed to pay $17 billion for a majority stake in the financial services unit of Thomson Reuters, according to a joint statement issued Tuesday.
The deal would give Blackstone a controlling stake in the unit that delivers financial research and other tools to market professionals through dedicated terminals and subscription services.
Blackstone would get a 55 percent stake in the Finance & Risk (F&R) division, which competes with services from Bloomberg and others.
The F&R division has also pledged at least $325 million a year for 30 years to the Reuters news agency.
“This deal strengthens F&R and should accelerate its growth and benefit its customers across the sell-side, buy-side and trading venues,” said Jim Smith, president and chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters.
Martin Brand, a senior managing director at Blackstone, said: “We are excited to partner with Thomson Reuters — one of the most trusted companies in financial technology.”
Under the deal, Reuters would receive a $3 billion cash equity contribution while $14 billion of debt and preferred equity would be incurred by the partnership.
In its latest quarterly results, Thomson Reuters reported revenues of $73 million in its “other category,” which includes the Reuters news agency.
The financial service Eikon from Thomson Reuters relies on news from the Reuters agency, a competitor of AFP.
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