Thomson's Harrington no stranger to dealmaking

TORONTO (Reuters) - With at least 35 deals done on his watch, the chief executive of electronic publisher Thomson Corp., which has agreed to buy financial data and news company Reuters, is no stranger to selling or buying assets.

Since his appointment in October 1997, Richard Harrington has overseen landmark deals such as Thomson's sale of its North American community newspaper assets for $2.5 billion in 2000 and of its travel operations for $2 billion two years earlier.

Now, Harrington, a 60-year-old American, is doing his biggest deal yet, buying Reuters Group Plc for $17.2 billion.

Paul Bradley, director of research at Fraser Mackenzie in Toronto, said Thomson is a "strategic-thinking" organisation, which plans a long time ahead to position itself.

"You might infer from that he's not someone to rush into something, that every move is well considered and well backed up and supported by analysis," Bradley said of Harrington.

The Thomson family, which holds 70 percent of the company's shares, has also been hands-off in its approach, Bradley said.

"They have completely delegated the management of the business to professional business managers," he said, referring to Harrington's team.

The family also has a long-term business outlook since so much of their wealth is tied up in the company, he said.

Harrington, who joined Thomson in 1982, has spearheaded the company's drive to jettison its once vast newspaper empire and forge through acquisition an electronic publishing powerhouse that is a leading provider of legal, financial and other data.