Ipreo Acquires Discovery Data

NEW YORK, July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ipreo, a global leader of data, market intelligence and productivity solutions to capital markets and corporate professionals, today announced its acquisition of Discovery Data, a leading financial services industry provider of data on firms and professionals, and a recognized expert in CRM data hygiene.

Discovery Data offers the only database with a single consolidated view of the financial services industry, including 34,000 firms and over 2 million professionals. Access to Discovery Data is provided via a web application and by data feed, and is utilized by over 300 institutions and thousands of professionals to assist with sales, marketing, recruiting, data management and analytics. Discovery Data clients include many of the largest, most successful and fastest growing asset managers, broker-dealers, insurance companies and service providers.

Ipreo's Bigdough dataset – delivered through several CRM and investor prospecting applications catering to the capital markets workflow – is comprised of detailed profiles and comprehensive ownership information on over 135,000 institutional contacts, 50,000 buy- and sell-side firms, and 125,000 funds, across all asset classes and regions of the world.

The combination of Discovery Data and Ipreo will result in the most robust dataset of firms and individuals covering both the retail and institutional markets.

"The acquisition of Discovery Data represents a strategic expansion of one of our core competencies: accurate and comprehensive firm and people data," stated Scott Ganeles, CEO of Ipreo. "As we have continued to raise the bar on institutional data to capital markets and corporate professionals, so has Discovery Data led the industry in financial services data to broker-dealers and the buy side, making our offerings naturally complementary."

It's expected that the depth and scope of Ipreo's resources, as well as its financial strength, will bring long-term benefits to Discovery Data clients.

"We are pleased to join an organization with Ipreo's global scale, strong financial backing, and deep expertise in delivering high quality data solutions," stated Bob Herrmann, CEO of Discovery Data. He added, "We've accomplished a great deal in the last few years, but there is so much more we want to do and value we can bring to our clients having these resources at our disposal. Ipreo has the tools, technology and financial resources to accelerate our plans to add to the value we are already providing clients and to help us grow."

Ipreo's Research Sales & Trading clients will benefit from seamless access to a greater breadth of content across the financial markets and different sources of capital, extending their visibility into their core client base. Ipreo's Corporate IR clients will be able to more effectively target and manage outreach to retail investors by tapping into comprehensive information on registered investment advisors, brokers, and wealth managers.

"Discovery Data's commitment to data quality, as well as their reputation for outstanding client service, makes them a natural fit with Ipreo's culture of excellence," stated Kevin Marcus, President and COO of Ipreo. "We look forward to working together to bring industry-leading data solutions to our clients across all markets."

Discovery Data CEO Bob Herrmann will join Ipreo's Executive Committee and run the Asset & Wealth Management division of the combined company.

About Ipreo
Ipreo is a global leader in providing market intelligence, data, and technology solutions to all participants in the global capital markets, including sell-side banks, publicly traded companies, and buy-side institutions. By combining state-of-the-art new-issuance systems with the premier global financial and investor data, Ipreo enables our capital markets clients to execute deals more efficiently, maximizing time and resources.Our applications include end-to-end bookbuilding systems, roadshow and conference management platforms, and electronic document delivery. Additionally, Ipreo's suite of investor prospecting and CRM solutions offers the most accurate and comprehensive institutional contacts data and profiles in the industry. Ipreo is the only financial services provider to offer solutions across all asset classes for the Equity, Fixed Income, Municipal, and Syndicated Loan markets. Ipreo is a KKR portfolio company with nearly 700 employees supporting clients in every major financial center around the world. For more information, please go to www.ipreo.com.

About Discovery Data
Discovery Data offers the only single view of the financial services industry with access to all BD and RIA firms, over 640,000 BD and RIA reps, 2,400 trust companies and 1.6 million insurance agents via a state-of-the-art online system, and includes comprehensive firm and professional profiles encompassing hundreds of fields of data, sophisticated search capabilities, and business intelligence to follow industry trends and mine key data. Additional services include a comprehensive data hygiene program, extensive data feeds for integration with any CRM or data warehouse, data-driven market insight and strategic guidance. Many of the world's largest and most successful asset managers, broker-dealers, clearing firms, insurance companies and service providers rely on Discovery's data and services to understand the industry, and to identify, reach and do business with firms and professionals throughout the United States. For more information, please go to www.discoveryco.com.                                        

SOURCE Ipreo