Categories: OLD Media Moves

FT parent sells Mergermarket for $624 million

BC Partners, a London-based private-equity firm, agreed to buy financial-data provider Mergermarket Group from Pearson Plc, the parent of The Financial Times, for $624 million, reports Kiel Porter and Kristen Schweizer of Bloomberg News.

Porter and Schweizer write, “Nikos Stathopoulos, managing partner at BC Partners, said in an e-mailed statement today that the company will team up with Mergermarket Chief Executive Officer Hamilton Matthews’s group continue to invest ‘in the growth of the business through product development and geographical expansion.’

“Mergermarket, which was founded in 1999, operates in 65 countries and controls brands such as Debtwire, DealReporter, Infinata, Wealthmonitor, and Xtract Research according to the statement. The London-based company had revenue of 100 million pounds and operating income of 25 million in 2012, Pearson said.

“Pearson, which publishes the Financial Times, will use proceeds to accelerate growth in its education business. The London-based company is spending 150 million pounds this year to push into fast-growing regions and digital services.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.