Thomson Reuters to buy back up to 10 million shares

Any shares purchased under these agreements will count towards the company's existing normal course issuer bid (NCIB), which allows it to buy back up to 30 million common shares in the 12 months from 28 May 2015 to 27 May 2016.

A normal course issuer bid is a buyback strategy used by publicly traded companies to purchase their own shares in order to cancel them, thus reducing the number of shares outstanding and increasing the earnings per share. This usually results in an increased market value per share.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has issued three issuer bid exemption orders permitting Thomson Reuters to make private agreement purchases for up to 10 million shares, which represents no more than one third of the maximum number of shares that may be purchased under the NCIB.

In May, the company announced that it planned to buy back up to US$1 billion of its common shares by the end of 2016.

The price that Thomson Reuters will pay for its common shares through private agreements will be at a discount to the prevailing market price on the Toronto Stock Exchange at the time of purchase, may be made in one or more trades over time, and must otherwise comply with the terms of the OSC's orders.

The company said that decisions regarding any future repurchases, including through private agreements, would be based on market conditions, share price and other factors, including opportunities to invest capital for growth.

Thomson Reuters’ main shareholder is Canada's Thomson family headed by chairman David Thomson, which owns about 58 per cent of the conglomerate. The family sold 515,000 TRI shares worth C$27,501,000 last week. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.40. TRI shares closed today at C$49.43. ■