Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, September 7, 2018

Article Excerpt

THOMSON REUTERS CORP., $58.95, Toronto symbol TRI, 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 now plans to complete the sale of a 55% stake in its Financial & Risk (F&R) business to a consortium led by Blackstone Group LP (New York symbol BX) on October 1, 2018. That unit 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 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 will use the proceeds to buy back $9 billion of its shares through a Dutch auction. Under the Dutch auction buyback plan, shareholders who want to sell their…