Thomson in talks to buy Reuters for $17.6 bln

By Mark Potter

LONDON (Reuters) - Canada's Thomson Corp TOC.TO is in talks to buy Reuters Group Plc RTR.L for about 8.8 billion pounds ($17.6 billion) to create the world's biggest news and financial data company, the two firms said on Tuesday.

Under the terms of the proposed deal -- which would see Reuters CEO Tom Glocer become chief executive of the combined entity -- Reuters investors would get 352-1/2 pence in cash and 0.16 Thomson stock for each share, worth 697 pence a share at Monday's closing prices, they said in a joint statement.

That would be 42 percent above Reuters closing share price on Thursday, the day before it announced a bid approach. The deal value is based on the number of outstanding Reuters shares.

Reuters shares leapt around 7 percent to a 5-year high of 659 pence in early trade.

A tie-up will create a company with about 34 percent of the global market for "market data," just ahead of privately-owned rival Bloomberg on 33 percent, according to Inside Market Data.

It also comes amid a frenzy of dealmaking in the media sector as the survivors of the economic downturn that followed the bursting of the dot.com bubble look to extend their reach.

Last week Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) made a $5 billion bid for Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones & Co Inc. DJ.N, which was rebuffed by Dow Jones' controlling investors.

"Although a rival bid cannot be ruled out, given the scale of synergies on offer (and therefore healthy premium offered) ... we view Thomson as the bidder best placed to secure Reuters," Numis Securities analysts wrote in a research note.