This investment marks Thomson Reuters second acquisition in 2012 across the MENA region and further underscores the organization's commitment to connecting and enabling the local financial community with leading edge information and tools.

The acquisition comes in line with Thomson Reuters long-term commitment to investing in the MENA region. Zawya , a privately owned company, is a leading online business intelligence platform. The firm enables professionals to find and connect to the right business and investment opportunities in the MENA region. The firm's wide range of specialized content and tools include detailed profiles on the top companies in the MENA region, live news, comprehensive industry and asset class research, as well as an exclusive online network for professionals focusing on the region.

"Zawya has built a strong brand and impressive offering in MENA, and this acquisition builds on our commitment to this region which dates back to 1856 starting with news and expanding to comprehensive news and data coverage. We offer deep and broad coverage of MENA markets across a wide spectrum of content sets and data types," said Basil Moftah, Managing Director for the Middle East, Africa and Russia, Thomson Reuters . "By joining forces, Thomson Reuters , Zawya 's clients, and the market will benefit from a unique offering. This synergy will result in an improved and diversified line of services across the MENA markets for a broader group of users."

"This investment confirms Thomson Reuters role as a key contributor to the growth of local markets through enhancing transparency, offering quality content, helping companies function better, and assisting professionals to make informed business decisions across the MENA markets," said Russell Haworth, Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa, Thomson Reuters . "By completing this acquisition, a wider group of users such as small and medium sized enterprises (SME), governments, family offices and financial institutions in and outside of the MENA region will have access to a single source of information providing rich content, research tools, deep subject matter expertise, and proprietary data."

Globally, Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. In MENA, Zawya complements Thomson Reuters offering exceptionally well by providing additional insight on local markets, covering a much broader spectrum of non-listed companies which is of value to regionally focused financial professionals.

In the area of Islamic finance, Zawya has an existing community which will further allow Thomson Reuters to harness and build on their experiences. Zawya 's Sharia scholar and Sukuk database is respected and well recognized across the MENA region. The combination of Thomson Reuters and Zawya represents the best of breed proposition for Islamic Finance content.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.