Thomson Reuters Corp announced this Monday that it had completed the sale of a majority stake in its Financial and Risk (F&R) unit to a consortium led by Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, in partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
With the completion of the sale, the Blackstone consortium now owns a 55 percent stake in the business with Thomson Reuters retaining 45 percent. The overall valuation is $20billion. As of Monday, the F&R unit of Thomson Reuters is now known as Refinitiv.
Refinitiv is a provider of financial markets data and infrastructure as well as regulatory and Risk Management solutions. According to a report from the Financial Times, the company is now planning to spend money to take on the software, data and media giant Bloomberg.
Refinitiv Will Invest More Effectively in Its Key Areas
David Craig
Speaking to the media outlet, David Craig, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Refinitiv: “There’s some areas where I think, frankly, we’ve not invested as much as the market growth could give us… We can invest more effectively than we did before. We're going to put more investment in the business than we have in five years.”
According to the statement released by the company, Refinitiv plans to invest in a number of its key areas such as its content coverage, artificial intelligence, Analytics , trading, wealth and banking customers to better serve its customer base. Currently, this is comprised of 40,000 institutions in more than 190 countries.
Craig added: “This is a unique moment in our 160-year history as the Financial & Risk business of Thomson Reuters now steps forward as Refinitiv. We firmly believe that efficient, transparent and trusted markets are good for all and that Refinitiv’s role is at the heart of this, providing access to clean and consistent data on a global scale.
“With the backing of our investors, Refinitiv will continue to deliver the critical data, insights and open technology infrastructure that the market has come to expect while driving progress for our customers across trading, risk, banking, wealth and investment management and in areas such as financial crime and ESG investment. We look forward to exciting times ahead.”
At present, Canson Capital Partners, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and J.P. Morgan are all acting as financial advisors to Refinitiv. In addition, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal counsel for the operation.
