Thomson Corp. gains cash by selling properties

HARTFORD, Conn. — The Thomson Corp., which has proposed paying more than $17 billion for British financial news provider Reuters Group PLC, freed up cash Friday by announcing that it agreed to sell education and publishing-related properties for $7.75 billion.

The agreement to sell Thomson Learning to two companies is seen as preparation for the company's blockbuster proposal to purchase Reuters. The deal would make Thomson-Reuters the world's leader in providing real-time data to traders and investment professionals.

Friday's deal was "quite a bit more than was expected by most analysts. That should augur well for their bid for Reuters," said John R. Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities in Toronto.

Apax Partners, a private equity firm, and OMERS Capital Partners, an Ontario-based pension plan, are buying the higher-education, careers and library-reference divisions of Thomson Learning as well as Nelson Canada, an Ontario-based book publisher and provider of online resources.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year and is subject to regulatory approvals.

Christian Stahl, a partner at Apax, said the deal would deepen Apax's focus on the media industry. An OMERS representative did not return a call seeking comment.

A Thomson spokesman would not comment beyond the company's news release.

Thomson had announced in October that it would sell Thomson Learning because it did not fit the company's long-term strategic goals. That division alone was expected to bring in about $5 billion.

Thomson shares rose 3.6 percent to $42.02 Friday.

Legal experts said a Thomson-Reuters combination — which would have a market capitalization of around $45 billion and a third of the global market for financial data terminals — would likely face tough antitrust scrutiny in the United States and Europe.

Reuters and Thomson rank second and third in the market for data terminals on desks at the world's major banks and brokerages. Reuters was the leader for many years before being overtaken by Bloomberg LP, which has 33 percent market share, according to an April report from Inside Market Data Reference. Reuters held 23 percent and Thomson 11 percent.

Despite the likely concerns of antitrust officials, Bruce McDonald, a lawyer at Jones Day and former antitrust enforcer at the Department of Justice, said Thomson and Reuters could have some arguments in their favor.