Nasdaq Adds Thomson Reuters' IR, PR Units
December 13, 2012
Nasdaq OMX has agreed to acquire Thomson Reuters Corp's investor relations, public relations, and multimedia services units. The price tag: $390 million.
"In one acquisition, we accelerate and achieve our Corporate Solutions long-term objectives, while maintaining our balanced strategy of delivering value to shareholders," said Bob Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer, NASDAQ OMX, in the company’s official statement.
"The combination of these two successful companies represents a distinct opportunity to create a truly unique client experience through premier content and best in class platforms. We will bring the assets, talent and technology together to continue to deliver a strong customer-centric value proposition to over 7,000 new clients in over 60 countries."
The Thomson Reuters units that Nasdaq is buying help companies communicate with investors and media and create and distribute video presentations. They generated $233 million of revenue in the 12 months ended September 30.
At an analysts meeting, Griefeld said he was excited by a number of new products and services the acquisition would add to Nasdaq OMX’s total suite. “Certainly when you look at the Thomson Reuters products, we’re one, excited by having exclusive relationships with First Call and Street Sense for a long period of time. So, I think that’s very helpful. And certainly the Thomson product with respect to webcasting is very strong.''
"Our Directors Desk product, which has been on a growth tear as of late, really doesn’t have a peer within the Thomson family, so we’ve got tremendous cross-selling opportunities with that,'' he also said.
Nasdaq said it is funding the deal with available cash. The company had $438 million of cash and a line of credit of $750 million as of September 30. Its debt was $1.98 billion.
Nasdaq OMX Group's third-quarter profit fell 18 percent, due in part to a drop in trading volumes in U.S. and Nordic equities, the exchange operator said on October 24. In August Nasdaq OMX’s matched US equity trading volume fell 11.1% from July to 1.13 billion shares per day, the lowest monthly average in almost seven years.
