Major deal to unlock value for Thomson

Article Excerpt

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $51 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 710.4 million; Market cap: $36.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) sells specialized information products to financial clients such as banks and brokerages. It also sells specialized information to professionals in the legal, and tax and accounting fields. It owns the Reuters news service. Thomson will now sell 55% of its Financial & Risk (F&R) division to a group led by Blackstone Group LP (New York symbol BX). This currently supplies about half of the company’s revenue. In exchange, Thomson will receive $17 billion—$3 billion in cash and $14 billion in notes and preferred shares (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The company’s Reuters news service will also supply content to F&R. For that, Thomson will receive $235 million a year for the next 30 years. The company expects to complete the transaction by the end of 2018. If you…