Brussels - Financial news and information publisher Thomson (NYSE: TOC) has won conditional approval from the European Commission to acquire international news agency Reuters (NASD: RTRSY), agreeing to divest certain businesses that include databases with financial information products before the deal proceeds.

The European Commission said its investigation was undertaken in parallel with that of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, which has also agreed that Reuters divest its Reuters Estimates, Reuters Aftermarket Research and Reuters Economics (EcoWin) databases, while Thomson will shed its Thomson Fundamentals (Worldscope) business.

The business units provide such information as earnings estimates to market insiders.

Without the divestitures, the European Commission said, the deal would have "eliminated rivalry between the two main suppliers of such databases in the marketplace...leaving financial institutions and customers of such products with a reduced choice, the likelihood of price increases and a severe risk of discontinuation of overlapping products."

Thomson's $15.8 billion bid for Reuters, now expected to close by April 13, will merge the two companies against Bloomberg in the financial services information market.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/1zyle (EU statement)

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080219/reuters_thomson_eu.html (Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com

http://www.thomson.com