Taylor & Francis, the U.K.— based academic and STM publisher, has announced a merger with Informa, publisher of Lloyds List and organizer of conferences and exhibitions worldwide. The new company, T&F Informa, will have sales of about £513 million ($900 million).

Talks have been in progress for six months and the deal was driven by the awareness of both companies that there was a crossover demand for information in the academic, scientific, professional and commercial sectors.

David Smith, chief executive of T&F, will become chairman of T&F Informa and Peter Rigby, chairman of Informa, takes on the role of chief executive.