Acquisition

8th Aug 2006 08:47

Pearson PLC08 August 2006 8 August 2006 PEARSON ACQUIRES MERGERMARKET:ADDS NEW FINANCIAL CONTENT AND SERVICES TO THE FT GROUP Pearson, the international education and information company, today announcedthe acquisition of the Mergermarket Group for £101m (net of cash retained in thebusiness). Mergermarket is a highly customer-focused financial information company whichcombines historical news and data with proprietary, forward-looking insights andintelligence. It provides this information electronically to financialinstitutions, corporations and their advisers, becoming part of their customers'daily workflow. Its flagship product, mergermarket, couples detailed databases of transactionsand third party news sources with early-stage intelligence on potentialcorporate activity generated by 160 M&A journalists in 31 countries. Itscustomers - which include 29 of the world's top 30 investment banks, 18 of thetop 20 law firms and 25 of the top 30 private equity houses - use thisinformation to generate ideas and new business opportunities. Building on the successful mergermarket model, the company has launched a seriesof new services including Debtwire for traders of distressed and high-yielddebt, dealReporter for merger arbitrageurs and Wealthmonitor for privatebankers. It has a strong record of successful product launches and a healthypipeline of further innovative new services to be launched over the next fewyears. Founded in 2000, mergermarket's sales have grown very rapidly and itssubscription model produces high renewal rates (currently well over 95%),reliable revenue streams and excellent cash conversion. The acquisition isexpected to enhance Pearson's adjusted earnings per share in 2007, its firstfull year and return on invested in capital in 2008. "Mergermarket builds its products around its customers, creating unique,indispensable content that becomes part of their daily lives. It has grownrapidly, demonstrating its ability to build new services around a highlysuccessful business model, and it has an excellent team of people who we aredelighted to welcome on board," said Rona Fairhead, chief executive of theFinancial Times Group. "For the FT Group, it adds proprietary content, a premium customer base,reliable growth from new revenue sources and attractive financialcharacteristics. We see opportunities to connect mergermarket and the FT Group,from the Financial Times and FT.com to our specialist financial magazines andInteractive Data Corporation. These would include using existing FT Groupinformation to develop new products, developing advertising and sponsorshiprevenues and sharing technology capabilities." Mergermarket will continue to be led by its current management team includingCaspar Hobbs, CEO; Charlie Welsh, Editor-in-Chief; Gawn Rowan Hamilton, CFO; andRichard Hall, managing director for dealReporter and Debtwire. Caspar Hobbs, CEO of mergermarket, said: "The employees of mergermarket haveworked passionately and tirelessly over the last seven years to create a trulyglobal business. Their commitment has been extraordinary and, as a result, sohas our success. We have ambitious plans to build our business even further andI can think of no better partner for us than the FT Group." Ends For more information: PearsonLuke Swanson / Simon Mays-Smith+44 (0)20 7010 2310 FT GroupJoanna Manning-Cooper+44 (0)20 7873 4447 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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