Thomson Reuters makes market debut

Thomson Reuters Corp debuted this morning as a leading global information company, hoping a portfolio of products from financial…

Thomson Reuters Corp debuted this morning as a leading global information company, hoping a portfolio of products from financial to legal and health-care will help it ride out a financial industry downturn.

Shares in the company, formed by Thomson Corp's more than $16 billion cash and stock purchase of Reuters Group, debuted at 1,700 pence and were trading lower at 1,626 pence London at 8.55am ahead of dealings starting later in Toronto and New York.

Thomson Reuters marked its debut by announcing that it may buy back up to $500 million of its shares over the year. Credit Suisse said it had an "outperform" rating on the enlarged business, while ABN began its coverage with "sell".

Thomson Reuters, headed by former Reuters chief Tom Glocer, sells electronic news and data to traders, fund managers and analysts, as well as databases and other information to lawyers, accountants, scientists and the health-care industry.

The combination allows Thomson to expand its financial data business from its North American base, adding Reuters strengths in catering to traders to Thomson's business with money managers. It is also meant to help Reuters cut its exposure to  financial markets, recently buffeted by credit crises.

The new company, with headquarters in New York, has annual revenues of $12.5 billion, 50,000 employees and more than 40,000 customers in 155 countries.

Mr Glocer, a former mergers and acquisitions lawyer, envisions a company that will provide "intelligent information" that people will pay for, he told Reuters in an interview.

"It's not just: 'Isn't it nice that instead of Reuters having 90 percent-plus concentration in financial, there'll be a more hedged, balanced portfolio," he said. "What I think is more interesting is all of these units are going to work together over the long haul."

Analysts had expected the London-listed Thomson Reuters shares to trade at a 15 per cent discount to the Toronto shares, citing the changing nature of the new company's shareholder base and the unwinding of arbitrage trades that had bet on Reuters shares rising to the Thomson offer price.