Thomson Corp acquires Reuters Group

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Big loss posted by Merrill Lynch & CoThomson Corp acquires Reuters Group'Emerging market soar M&A to $200 bn'

Financial data provider Thomson Corp on Thursday announced the completion of a 17.2 billion dollar deal to acquire Reuters Group Plc, creating one of the world's largest news and data services company.

Following the completion of the deal, the shares of the combined entity, named Thomson Reuters, on Thursday began trading on Toronto, New York and London, a statement said.

Thomson had reached an agreement to acquire Reuters for about 17.2 billion dollar in a cash and stock deal almost a year ago. The two companies together have over 50,000 employees with operations in 93 countries on six continents and collectively had a revenue of 12.4 billion dollar in 2007.

"We are witnessing the maturation of the information economy and content from Thomson Reuters will be its currency," Thomson Reuters CEO Thomas H Glocer said. "Thomson Reuters will benefit from the value created by more diversified revenue streams, a larger capital base and synergies resulting from the acquisition. Our leadership position and global footprint will give us opportunities to grow faster than either Thomson or Reuters could have on its own," added Glocer, who was previously Reuters' CEO.

Thomson Reuters on Thursday also unveiled its new branding and a global advertising campaign and said that it might repurchase up to 500 million dollars worth of its shares over the course of the year.

On May 15, 2007, Thomson agreed to acquire Reuters for 352.5 pence in cash and 0.16 Thomson Reuters PLC ordinary shares for each Reuters ordinary share.

On February 19 2008, Thomson and Reuters received regulatory approvals from the European Commission, US Department of Justice and Canadian Competition Bureau.

Shareholders of both companies approved the transaction on March 26, leading to subsequent court approvals in Ontario and the UK.

Both the companies separately had a significant presence in India and Thomson has said that with its acquisition of Reuters it would further expand its footprint in the country.

Days after sealing the Reuters deal, Thomson had announced in May 2007 the launch of a new India centre in Chennai. It has facilities in Bangalore and Hyderabad as well.

In its last annual report, Reuters had said that its revenue grew strongly in all geographic regions in 2007, but Asia was the fastest growing region fuelled by double-digit growth in China, India and other emerging markets.