By: The Thomson Corp., which earlier this month bid $17.7 billion for British financial news publisher Reuters Group PLC, announced Friday that it has agreed to sell its library reference and other properties for $7.75 billion.
The Stamford-based company said it has signed definitive agreements with Apax Partners, a private equity firm, and OMERS Capital Partners, an Ontario-based pension plan, to sell the higher education, careers and library reference divisions of Thomson Learning. Thomson also is selling Nelson Canada, an Ontario-based book publisher and provider of online resources, to Apax Partners and OMERS.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year and is subject to regulatory approvals.
Thomson announced in October that it would sell Thomson Learning because it did not fit the company?s long-term strategic goals. Analysts had expected the deal to close for about $5 billion, with the funds used to help finance Thomson?s purchase of Reuters.
Thomson has transformed itself in the last decade from an owner of newspapers and other print products, building up its legal information business.
It has recently approached Reuters in a deal that would have a market capitalization of around $45 billion and overtake current market leader Bloomberg LP in providing real-time data to traders and investment professionals.
Apax invests in media, technology and telecommunications, retail, health care and business and financial services. OMERS provides pension services to 372,000 active and retired members and about 900 employers.
Thomson shares rose $1.69, or 4 percent, to $42.25 in morning trading.
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