CC and Slaughters scoop £8.8bn Thomson-Reuters deal

An elite roster of City and Canadian firms have been drafted in to advise on Thomson’s £8.8bn takeover of Reuters.

Reuters has turned to its longstanding corporate adviser and panel firm Slaughter and May, which is fielding a team led by veteran corporate partner Nigel Boardman.

The combined company, which will be known as Thomson-Reuters, will be the world’s largest news and financial data company if the talks move forward successfully.

The deal has several regulatory hurdles to cross and analysts from Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch have pointed to likely antitrust scrutiny by the European Commission.

On competition aspects, Reuters is using another of its panel advisers Clifford Chance, with head of competition Alex Nourry leading. Weil Gotshal & Manges scored a role advising on US antitrust aspects.

As Thomson is a Canadian company, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg has been drafted in by Reuters to advise on Canadian law aspects.

Canadian rival Torys landed a key role advising Thomson, which has turned to Allen & Overy for English law. Shearman & Sterling is giving US antitrust advice.