Bloomberg LP is buying legal tax and regulatory research company BNA for about $990 million in an all-cash deal. The transaction is expected to close this year, Bloomberg said on Thursday. Owned by current and former employees, Arlington, Virginia-based BNA provides editorial products for the legal, tax and accounting, human resources and health and safety industries.
The acquisition is part of a larger push by Bloomberg, a competitor to Thomson Reuters Corp, to expand its legal and government services business. Thomson Reuters is the owner of the Westlaw legal database and competes with Bloomberg's product for financial professionals. "We are enthusiastic about a Bloomberg-BNA combination that will deliver more premium content to our professional audiences," Dan Doctoroff, Bloomberg chief executive said in a statement. Bloomberg said it will operate BNA as stand-alone subsidiary.