Capital IQ Acquires the Research and Estimates Business of TheMarkets.com

NEW YORK, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital IQ, a leading provider of data and analytics for global financial professionals, today announced that it has acquired the research and estimates business of TheMarkets.com. TheMarkets.com is a premier provider of third party equity and fixed income research, earnings models, and estimates to more than 2,400 institutional investment management firms worldwide.

The acquisition will enable Capital IQ to offer buy side clients the most comprehensive global research and earnings estimates alongside Capital IQ's already best-in-class financial data and analytics. With more than 1,000 global research and estimates contributors, Capital IQ will now offer the most complete investment research and analysis platform worldwide. The acquisition also allows Capital IQ to offer access to proprietary valuation models from the world's leading brokers, distinguishing it from all other investment research providers. Terms of the all-cash deal were not disclosed.

Customers of TheMarkets.com are the world's top buy side firms, including 75 percent of the 50 largest US asset managers, 80 percent of the 50 largest European asset managers, and 75 percent of the top 100 global hedge funds.

"Capital IQ has been a leader in providing data and analytics to hedge funds, investment banks and private equity firms. With this acquisition, Capital IQ is now strongly positioned to serve mutual funds and global asset managers and to provide even better, more complete solutions for our  hedge fund, investment banking and private equity clients," said Randall Winn, executive managing director of Capital IQ. "We know that TheMarkets.com is a valued platform for thousands of clients around the world. We will maintain the exceptional level of service, content, and functionality that clients have come to expect from TheMarkets.com and our combined offering will add even more value over time."

"Capital IQ is an ideal partner for TheMarkets.com, offering a broad set of content and analytics to our buy side clients," said David Eisner, CEO of TheMarkets.com. "As one combined company, we can offer a complete set of solutions to the market.  Additionally, we are positioned to be the premier provider of real-time research, estimates, and analyst models to global investment managers."

"This acquisition significantly enhances Capital IQ's capabilities to serve its growing global customer base of financial professionals, and demonstrates our commitment to continually enhance our powerful suite of products for investment managers," said Deven Sharma, president of Standard & Poor's.

Financial Technology Partners LP acted as a financial advisor to TheMarkets.com.

About Capital IQ and Standard & Poor's

Capital IQ, a Standard & Poor's business, delivers comprehensive fundamental and quantitative research and analysis solutions to over 4,200 investment management firms, investment banks, private equity funds, advisory firms, corporations, and universities worldwide. Its solutions are based on the Capital IQ Platform, Compustat, ClariFI, and Alphaworks products, and offer an array of powerful applications for desktop research, screening, real-time market data, backtesting, portfolio management, financial modeling, and quantitative analysis. For more information, please visit Capital IQ's web site at www.capitaliq.com.

Standard & Poor's, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With offices in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for 150 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit www.standardandpoors.com

About TheMarkets.com

TheMarkets.com is the proven standard for investment research and workflow technologies to institutional investment firms worldwide.  TheMarkets.com enables investors to streamline access to diverse providers of investment research through efficient workflow technologies that enhance portfolio and firm performance. TheMarkets.com was previously owned by: BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, The Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank, and Thomson Reuters.

SOURCE Capital IQ