Canadian mass media giant Thomson Reuters announced that its board of directors has authorized the making of a substantial issuer bid or tender offer (SIB) pursuant to which the company will offer to purchase from shareholders for cancellation up to $9 billion of its outstanding common shares.
The company plans to fund repurchases of shares using a portion of the cash proceeds to be received from the sale of a 55 percent interest in the company's financial & risk business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone for approximately $17 billion.
The company now expects to use the remaining proceeds not returned to shareholders to redeem approximately $4 billion of debt, maintain approximately $2 billion of cash on its balance sheet to fund focused acquisitions, and utilize approximately $1 billion to cover transaction-related expenses.
The transaction is expected to close on October 1, 2018, and the SIB is conditioned upon the closing.