LSE expands FTSE Russell with Mergent acquisition

Financial information provider Mergent to support FTSE Russell with new indices.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has announced an agreement to purchase 100% of the issued share capital of financial information provider Mergent.

Mergent will form part of LSE’s information services business and will support the growth of FTSE Russell’s index offering by supplying data and analytics for the creation of further indices, LSE said.

Mark Makepeace, group director of information services and chief executive officer of FTSE Russell, said the acquisition 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 has been a provider of business and financial information on public and private companies globally for over 100 years.

Its services include data on 385,000 corporate bonds, 3.6 million US municipal bonds and 250 million public and private companies.

Jonathan Worrall, chief executive officer at Mergent, added the acquisition provides the company with a “fantastic opportunity to develop our global product offering as part of a leading markets infrastructure group.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, though it is expected to close by 21 January 2017, LSE said. 

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