London Stock Exchange to acquire business, financial information provider Mergent

London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSEG) today struck a deal to acquire business and financial information provider Mergent Inc, for an undisclosed sum.

The transaction is expected to close by 31 January 2017, subject to antitrust and shareholders approvals.

The deal comes eight months after LSEG agreed to merge with German rival Deutsche Boerse. (See: LSE and Deutsche Börse to merge in all-stock deal)

The Mergent business will form part of LSEG's Information Services Division, which includes FTSE Russell, a global leader in indexes, and a range of real time and reference data products, such as SEDOL, UnaVista and RNS.

For over 100 years, Mergent has been a provider of business and financial information on public and private companies globally. With advanced data collection services, cloud-based applications, desktop analytics and print products, Mergent provides data and analysis including top down economic and demographic information, detailed equity and debt fundamental analysis and research services.

These solutions, which include data on 385,000 Corporate Bonds, 3.6 million US Municipal Bonds and 250 million public and private companies, are delivered to more than 4,000 customers worldwide including investment firms, brokerage houses and law firms.

LSEG said that the acquisition will support the growth of FTSE Russell's core index offering, supplying underlying data and analytics for the creation of a wide range of indexes.

Mark Makepeace, group director of information services and CEO of FTSE Russell said, ''The acquisition of Mergent supports the continuing strong growth of FTSE Russell and LSEG's data services. 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.''

''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,'' said, Jonathan Worrall, CEO of Mergent.