The board of Thomson Reuters recently pressed ahead with plans to sell a piece of its business to Blackstone Group for $17bn despite its chairman’s concerns that directors had failed to seek a higher price or consider other potential buyers, people close to the deal said.

David Thomson, who is board chairman and grandson of Roy Thomson, the founder of the family empire, began airing his objections to other directors after the board started to review Blackstone’s offer in November, but most of them disagreed, the people said.