LONDON (LPC) - Blackstone BX.N has launched a $5.5 billion bridge loan to support the pending bond issuance for its acquisition of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters’ TRI.TO Financial and Risk division (F&R), which is expected to complete later this year.

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The $5.5 billion bridge loan is separate from an US$8bn equivalent term loan B portion of Blackstone’s $13.5 billion loan and bond financing, which is also being shown to large institutional investors, Thomson Reuters LPC reported on Monday.

The financing package supports Blackstone’s $20 billion acquisition of a 55 percent stake in Thomson Reuters’ F&R unit, which includes LPC and IFR and is the largest buyout financing since the financial crisis.

The bridge loan includes a $3 billion, 7.5 year senior secured loan, which is split between $2 billion and $1 billion-equivalent euros, and an eight-year, $2.5 billion unsecured loan, which is split between $1.8 billion and $700 million-equivalent.

The structure mirrors the expected sizes of the bond tranches.

The senior secured tranche pays a margin of 400bp and the unsecured tranche has a margin of 625bp.

A 50bp commitment fee is included for tickets of at least $150 million on the secured tranche and 25bp is payable for all other ticket sizes.

The unsecured tranche has a 75bp commitment fee for tickets of at least $50 million and 50bp for all other commitments.

A call is scheduled for Wednesday with commitments due on July 9.

JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup are lead arrangers. JP Morgan is also the administrative agent.