Pearson mulls IDC sale for $1.5 billion

Pearson, the publishing and education group that publishes Penguin books and the Financial Times, confirmed media reports that it is mulling the sale of its majority-owned financial market data solutions subsidiary Interactive Data Corporation (IDC).

The UK-based Pearson said in a statement today, ''Following recent press reports, Pearson and Interactive Data Corporation are today confirming that the board of Interactive Data is currently undertaking a preliminary review of strategic alternatives for the company.''

The statement was issued after the Financial Times reported yesterday that Pearson, which holds a 61-per cent stake in IDC, has approached potential buyers to see if they would be interested in acquiring its stake.

Bedford, Massachusetts-based IDC, which is listed on the New York stock exchange (NYSE), has a market value of approximately $2.4 billion based on its closing share price of $25.47 on the NYSE last evening, valuing Pearson's 61-per cent stake at around $1.5 billion.

IDC, which provides financial market data, analytics and related solutions to financial institutions, traders and individual investors, had revenue of $563 million for the first nine months of 2009.

Its businesses supply real-time market data, time-sensitive pricing, evaluations and reference data for millions of securities traded around the world, including hard-to-value instruments and leading software companies, banks, funds, asset managers and securities companies are its clients.