Thomson Reuters debuts amid global market jitters

By Gavin Haycock and Robert MacMillan

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of global information company Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO)(TRI.N)(TRIL.L)(TRIN.O) fell in their debut on Thursday on concerns over a financial industry downturn.

The new company, formed by Thomson's purchase of Reuters for more than $16 billion in cash and stock, hopes its portfolio of products, ranging from financial to legal and health care, will help it ride out the credit crisis.

The combination allows Thomson to expand its financial data offering from its North American base, and is meant to help Reuters reduce its exposure to financial markets.

Even so, brokerage ABN put a "sell" rating on the stock, arguing that the financial industry is facing big job cuts and takeovers.

Goldman Sachs analyst Peter Appert, who has a "neutral" rating on the stock, offered a similar downbeat assessment.

"The timing in some respects couldn't be worse," Appert said. "You are dramatically expanding your exposure to the financial services industry at a time when the financial services industry is arguably facing its toughest environment in the past decade."

Indeed, Merrill Lynch MER.N said on Thursday it would cut 2,900 jobs after a $2 billion quarterly loss.

Shares in Thomson Reuters, which announced that it may buy back up to $500 million of its shares over the year, fell around 5 percent in Toronto and New York.

The London shares also fell and traded at a discount of about 13 percent to the North American-listed shares.

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

"INTELLIGENT INFORMATION"

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 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.

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.