Deutsche Börse has acquired a 51% stake in Azdek, a UK-based provider of global business entity reference data, for an undisclosed sum.
Formed in 2003, Azdex Limited provides business entity reference data - such as corporate hierarchies, registered address information, industry sector codes and company identifiers - to financial firms including Barclays Capital Services, Citigroup, DrDW and Standard Bank.
Financial terms of the transaction were not released, but Deutsche Börse says the purchase price is "a single digit million figure" and includes a contribution to the Azdex share capital. The remaining 49% stake in Azdex is held by the firm's two founders.
Deutsche Börse says the acquisition will extend its market data and anlytics services to cover counterparty data. The German exchange launched a reference data business in November last year, distributing data sourced from its own settlement and custody systems to banks via third party information providers.
The exchange says the deal will close in mid September.