Thomson's Reuters takeover gets antitrust go-ahead

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thomson Corp won conditional approval from the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice to buy Reuters, a deal that will create the world's leading provider of news and data for professional markets.

Thomson and Reuters said on Tuesday they had agreed to sell copies of their financial databases -- Thomson's Worldscope, Reuters Estimates, Reuters Aftermarket Research and Reuters EcoWin -- in order to meet the regulators' conditions.

The sales include copies of the databases, source data and training materials as well as contracts and an undisclosed number of staff, but Thomson and Reuters retain ownership of the data, the companies said in a statement.

Thomson and Reuters expect the deal to close in the week of April 13, following shareholder and court approvals and the companies are not required to complete the sales before the closing of the transaction, they added.

The European Commission said the disposals would allow purchasers to "quickly establish themselves as a credible competitive force in the marketplace in competition with the merged entity".

Thomson announced its takeover in May with a deal that when closed will see Reuters shareholders get 352-1/2 pence in cash and 0.16 of one Thomson share for each Reuters share held.

The deal values Reuters at around 635 pence or 7.9 billion pounds ($15.4 billion), based on the value of the two companies shares shortly after the regulators' decisions were released.

Shares in Reuters, which were trading around 605p ahead of the announcement, were up 1 percent at 612 pence at 1500 GMT.

Thomson and Reuters have said they expect to make over $500 million of annual synergies within three years of completion.