The Blackstone Group has agreed to acquire a 55% stake in Thomson Reuters' Financial and Risk business, which provides data, analytics and trading solutions to financial professionals. The deal values F&R at $20 billion, with Thomson Reuters to receive around $17 billion in gross proceeds (including $3 billion in cash from Blackstone and the rest funded by debt).
Why it's a big deal: This is Blackstone's largest buyout since the financial crisis, and already has some private equity tongues wagging about a new spate of mega-deals (albeit with more modern twists like LP co-investments and sell-side equity retention).