Blackstone agrees to stake in Thomson Reuters finance unit

NEW YORK — 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% 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. —