By Nathalie Tadena
Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI) has extended its tender offer for
electronic currencies trading platform FX Alliance Inc. (FX) by
three days as just 30.1% of FXall shareholders tendered their
shares to the offer.
As of Thursday, about 10.1 million of FXall's shares had been
tendered to the offer, Thomson Reuters said.
The offer for all outstanding FXall shares at $22 a piece will
now expire on Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. EDT. It was previously set to
expire Aug. 14. All other terms of the tender offer remain
unchanged.
The two companies also said they have entered into a memorandum
of understanding that outlines terms of an agreement in principle
to settle action pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery that
alleged FXall, Thomson Reuters and other defendants breached their
fiduciary duties by failing to properly value FXall. The defendants
didn't admit to liability or wrongdoing and entered into the
memorandum of understanding to avoid the costs, risks and
uncertainties of litigation.
Last month, Thomson Reuters agreed to buy FX Alliance for $616
million, cranking up competition in the electronic currencies
dealing space and suggesting the data provider is striving to get a
bigger slice of the $4 trillion-a-day global currencies
business.
Thomson Reuters shares closed at $29 and were inactive after
hours. The stock is up 8.7% since the start of the year.
-Write to Nathalie Tadena at nathalie.tadena@dowjones.com