Reuters has confirmed plans to sell financial extranet venture Radianz to UK telco BT.
Reuters says it has reached agreement with joint venture partner Equant to buy its 49% stake in Radianz as a pre-requisite to the BT sale. The news and information group will pay Equant $110 million in cash to free up the stake. The BT buy-out is subject to regulatory approval and definitive agreement, but is expected to complete during the first quarter of 2005.
Tom Glocer, CEO of Reuters, says the sale is part of the group's efforts to offload non-core businesses under the Fast Forward restructuring programme. He says Radianz will continue to be Reuters' preferred telecomms supplier under BT's ownership.
"By combining Radianz with BT, Reuters and our customers would benefit from a greater range of high quality networking options, providing increased flexibility and enabling cost efficiencies," he says.
Ben Verwaayen, CEO of BT says the acquisition will "significantly enhance our strong IT and networking services offer to the financial services industry".