Reuters to sell A2 healthcare unit

Thomson Reuters plans to divest its Healthcare business, which employees more than 800 workers at its building on Eisenhower Parkway in Ann Arbor.

The unit, which provides data, analytics and performance benchmarking solutions and services to companies, government agencies and healthcare professionals, offers solutions to identify savings, improve outcomes, fight fraud and abuse and more efficiently manage their healthcare operations.

“Thomson Reuters has strong positions in our chosen markets and we believe we will achieve better all-in returns for our shareholders by divesting the Healthcare business and re-deploying the proceeds in our core franchises," said Thomas H. Glocer, chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters. "We have leading positions in global markets, including legal, tax and accounting, science and intellectual property, financial services and media, where we see significant opportunities for future growth and profitability. While a growing and profitable unit, our Healthcare business lacks the integration with and global scale of our other units, and our disciplined approach to capital allocation convinced us that the expected proceeds from a sale into a consolidating market could be better applied elsewhere in our portfolio,” said Glocer.

The fate of the operation's employees and facility hinge largely on the nature of the buyer. A financial or strategic purchase by, for example, a health care consulting company interested in analytics could leave the division largely in place. A purchaser interested only in individual assets might buy the division to break it down an scatter the components. Expansion, reduction, consolidation or a move for the division are all possibilities.

The Healthcare business in 2010 had revenues of approximately $450 million and an operating margin comparable to the company’s consolidated margin of 19.3%. Following adjustment for this divestiture by removing Healthcare’s results from ongoing businesses, no material impact is expected to the company’s previously announced 2011 outlook. The company expects the divestiture to close before the end of the year.

Morgan Stanley and Allen & Company are acting as financial advisors to Thomson Reuters for the proposed divestiture.