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Cristina McEachern
Cristina McEachern
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Interactive Data and DBC to Expand Offerings Through Merger

Plans are to expand internationally with a new European financial site.

In typical consolidation fashion as the big keep getting bigger, the Interactive Data Corporation and the Data Broadcasting Corporation have merged in an effort to expand their product offerings and customer base. Work to integrate and enhance their products under the combined company has already begun with plans to leverage the real-time data services of DBC with Interactive Data’s pricing services and to expand internationally with a new European financial site. Under the agreement, Interactive Data, a part of the Financial Times Group and subsidiary of Pearson Longman Inc., will become a wholly owned subsidiary of DBC in exchange for 60% of the combined DBC stock given to Pearson.

“The two companies are in the same industry, but operate in very different niches,” says Stuart Clark, ceo of the newly merged Data Broadcasting Corp. “The Interactive Data business has such a strong institutional client base with several thousand end users and we see a number of those customers interested in some of the DBC products.” Clark sees leveraging Capital Management Science’s (CMS) BondEdge product, which falls under the DBC domain, in order to provide a comprehensive pricing and analytics package for institutional customers. “To be able to take our pricing services plus the fixed-income analytics services of CMS here in North America and into Europe will be a great advantage,” says Clark.

The combined entity will also be exploring ways to extend DBC’s real-time services into the Interactive Data customer base and the InteractiveData.com Web site. “DBC is a very technology rich company with a number of building blocks of both online and data feed products that service the real-time market place. These days speed to market and speed of development is critical, so we see the combination with DBC as allowing us to move much faster,” explains Clark.

One of the main reasons behind the merging of Interactive Data and DBC was also the relationship that the Financial Times will enter into with MarketWatch.com, which is 32% owned by DBC. Under the alliance, the FT Group and financial site will launch a European equivalent of CBSMarketWatch to be called FTMarketWatch, says Clark. The site, which is expected to be launched in the first half of this year, will provide free real-time financial and market news for private investors. It will focus on European companies in the telecommunications, Internet, media and electronic commerce sectors as well as the mutual funds market and will initially be presented in English with German and French versions to be introduced in the future.

Most products under the combined company will continue to use the Financial Times brand and while there will be some restructuring within the new DBC, there will not be any major selling off of properties, Clark says.

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