BEDFORD, Mass., Jan 2 (Reuters) - Interactive Data Corp. on Wednesday said it agreed to acquire the securities pricing service of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.
Interactive Data, a provider of stock and bond information, said it would pay $48 million for the unit, which had $22 million in revenues in 2000. The pricing service,
which is offered to mutual funds, banks, insurance companies and brokerages, provides evaluations of 2.9 million stocks and bonds.
"Through this transaction, Interactive Data will become one of Merrill Lynch's leading data content providers," Stuart Clark, Interactive Data chief executive, said
in a statement. "We expect the transaction to be earnings neutral during the integration phase in 2002 and accretive to earnings in 2003."
Merrill has sold off its Canadian brokerage operations and is scaling back in Japan as it cuts jobs and costs in a broad restructuring.
Interactive Data shares were up 15 cents at $14.29 in trading on the Nasdaq. Merrill shares were trading off $1.01, or 1.9 percent, at $51.10 on the New York
Stock Exchange.
Bedford, Massachusetts-based Interactive Media is 60 percent-owned by British media company Pearson Plc.. |
