Thomson Financial is to acquire the Starquote electronic market data system from Canadian IT services firm CGI Group for an undisclosed sum.
The Starquote system was among the assets of the Star Data company, which CGI acquired in 2001.
The service provides Canadian retail brokers with news, information and real-time quotes on a single screen. Starquote claims it has terminals in 70% of the registered brokerages across the country.
Thomson Financial will integrate the Starquote system with its retail and wealth management group but will continue to offer the current Starquote products. The vendor says Starquote employees will be kept on to support current clients.
Sharon Rowlands, president and COO, Thomson Financial, says: "This acquisition is in line with Thomson Financial's strategic focus on continuously expanding our global reach and will further develop our presence in the Canadian equities marketplace."
The transaction is expected to close later in the second quarter.
The deal is the latest move by Thomson Financial to expand through acquisitions. It follows the announcement late last week that Thomson is buying online fixed-income trading network TradeWeb for a maximum $535 million.
The vendor also bought the Corporate Communications Broadcast Network, a Boston-based provider of Web-based information systems for investment firms, in January.