London Stock Exchange boosts information business with acquisition of US-based Mergent
The London Stock Exchange Group has announced a takeover of US-based Mergent to boost its information services business.
The deal, the terms of which have not been disclosed, is expected to close on 31 January.
The firm will join the information services division of the group, which also houses FTSE Russell, an indexes and data business.
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Mergent provides business and financial information on public and private companies globally to more than 4,000 customers, including investment firms, brokerage houses and law firms.
It has data on 385,000 corporate bonds, 3.6m US municipal bonds and 250m companies.
“The acquisition of Mergent supports the continuing strong growth of FTSE Russell and LSEG’s data services,” said Mark Makepeace, group director of information services and chief executive of FTSE Russell.
“Mergent will broaden our range of data services, research and analytics to meet the increasing demands of our clients for benchmarks and related data and analytic services.”
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Mergent chief executive Jonathan Worrall said:
Mergent is delighted to become part of FTSE Russell and the wider London Stock Exchange Group. Mergent has a long history of developing innovative new products for its clients, delivering comprehensive financial data on public and private companies around the world. The transaction provides Mergent with a fantastic opportunity to develop our global product offering as part of a leading markets infrastructure group.
The deal is expected to complete long before the London Stock Exchange’s £21bn mega-merger with Deutsche Boerse.
The groups hope to complete this transaction in the first half of next year, though the European Commission is expected to publish a statement of objections next month.
Analysts remain doubtful the deal will go through.