Oct 30 (Reuters) - Information and analytics firm Ascential (ASCL.L) said on Monday it would sell its digital commerce and consumer research units for a combined enterprise value of 1.4 billion pounds ($1.70 billion) as the UK-based company focuses on its events business. London-listed Ascential said it intended to distribute about 850 million pounds to shareholders following the completion of the transactions. The digital commerce business would be sold to U.S.-listed Omnicom Group (OMC.N) for a total enterprise value of $900 million, it said. Ascential said its CEO Duncan Painter would join Omnicom to take on a new role as chief of Flywheel Digital, a newly formed part of the U.S.-based company which will operate the digital commerce business. The WGSN divestment is part of a break-up plan announced in January which originally included separation and a U.S. listing of its digital commerce assets.

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Persons: Ascential, Duncan Painter, Philip Thomas, Aby Jose Koilparambil, Rashmi Aich, Jason Neely Organizations: Apax Partners, Thomson Locations: London, U.S, Bengaluru