Chris Hughes, Columnist

Blackstone Can Give Thomson Reuters Some Air Cover

The private equity firm will have to pull every lever in Thomson Reuters deal.

January 30, 2018 at 12:46 PM UTC

Chris Hughes is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals. Previously, he worked for Reuters Breakingviews, the Financial Times and the Independent newspaper.

JBR_Reuters_06 — Photographer: JB Reed/Bloomberg News

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Thomson Reuters Corp. CEO Jim Smith is poised to take the brave step of selling a stake in his biggest business to Blackstone Group LP. A carve-out by a private equity firm could lead to a turnaround that Thomson would have struggled to achieve on its own. For Blackstone, a deal would be as risky as it is large.

Thomson may sell a 55 percent stake in its Financial & Risk division, which includes services like Eikon and Thomson One, to Blackstone. I should point out here that the business competes with Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.