Cision has inked a deal to acquire PR Newswire for $841M from UBM, after months of speculation as the London-based publisher and trade events producer sought a buyer of the profitable news disseminator.

cisionThe price tag includes $810M in cash and $31M in equity. Cision is owned by the private equity firm GTCR, which has cobbled together Cision, Vocus and Gorkana Group to create a PR services powerhouse.

UBM was expected to garner more than $700M for PRN and Cision was among reported suitors of the unit.

With the deal, Cision adds a legacy news dissemination service to its tech-based offerings, which include the low-cost PRweb, as well as Gorkana's and Cision's own PR platforms. Parent GTCR bought Vocus in 2014 in a $446.5M deal.

The sale will have to clear US regulators and UBM shareholders but is expected to close in the first quarter of Q1. A special dividend of around $371M will go to existing shareholders.

PRN CEO Robert Gray said the company's combination with Cision will provide customers "an unparalleled breadth of solutions enabling communicators to be efficient, data-driven and accountable."

Cision chief Peter Granat added PRN's "outstanding reputation and global reach" add a new dimension to the company.