Thomson Reuters puts in £416m cash bid for FX Alliance

Thomson Reuters plans to buy electronic foreign exchange platform FX Alliance Inc for about $625m (£416.6m) in cash, the news and information group said, expanding the customer base of one of its key businesses.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jul 2012, 11:03 BST

Thomson Reuters provides information and trading in the interbank foreign exchange market. The deal will strengthen the company’s offerings to the buy-side investment community, including asset managers, corporations and hedge funds.

“It simply ramps up what is already a very strong market position in foreign exchange,” said Claudio Aspesi, senior analyst with Sanford Bernstein.

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He said the move marks Thomson Reuters’ dedication to the financial services business.

Thomson Reuters, which provides news and information to financial, legal, accounting and tax professionals, offered to pay $22 per share for FXall, a premium of about 40 percent over its Friday close of $15.70 on the New York Stock Exchange. Thomson Reuters underwent a series of structural changes and management shakeups in 2011 to address lacklustre performance in some of its businesses targeting financial and banking clients. Its businesses aimed at legal, tax and accounting professionals have been much stronger.

The FXall deal signals that the pace of acquisitions is likely to accelerate over the next few years as Thomson Reuters looks for growth.

FXall, which provides 24-hour access to forex markets five days a week, was founded in 2000 and listed on the NYSE in February at $12 per share.