BX Blackstone Inc

By Robb M. Stewart

Thomson Reuters Corp. plans to return roughly $2.2 billion to its shareholders from the money raised with the sale of shares in the parent of the London Stock Exchange.

The business information company said Monday it will seek shareholder approval to hand out $4.67 a share in cash to investors and consolidate its outstanding shares by way of a reverse stock split.

The ratio for the reverse split will be based on the volume-weighed average trading price of the shares on the New York Stock Exchange over the five trading days immediately prior to the return of capital becoming effective, the parent company of Reuters News said.

In early February, Thomson Reuters said it aimed to return to its shareholders at least $2 billion of the proceeds from a move by it and Blackstone Inc. to sell shares in London Stock Exchange Group PLC. It also boosted its annualized dividend by 2% and said it was on track to finish up a $2 billion share-buyback program by April.

The company said a special meeting of its shareholders to vote on the return will be held June 14, with at least two-thirds of the votes cast needed to approve the move.

Taxable non-Canadian resident shareholders will be able to opt out of the transaction, which would return cash on a basis that is expected to be tax-free for Canadian tax purposes, Thomson Reuters said.

Thomson Reuters has projected revenue growth of between 4.5% and 5% this year.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 04, 2023 07:13 ET (11:13 GMT)

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