The three banks leading the US$13.5bn-equivalent loan and bond financing backing US private equity firm Blackstone Group’s acquisition of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters’ (TRI.TO) Financial and Risk (F&R) unit are set to sign more banks into the deal.

Around 21 senior banks are expected to join the deal, which is being led by JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, and is the biggest buyout financing since the financial crisis.

The lead banks invited 23 banks to join at the next level and underwrite 28% of the deal for fees ranging from around 3% to less than 1%, several sources said.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE