Swiss market data technology vendor Telekurs Financial has signed an agreement to acquire the financial information business of France's Fininfo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Rumours that Telekurs was negotiating a deal to buy Fininfo have been circulating for the past few weeks following reports that the French firm's main shareholder Gerard Jeulin has been trying to sell his 52% stake in the business.
Holding company Financiere Jeulin, representing Jeulin and The Amber Fund, will now initiate a public take-over bid for Fininfo and will launch a EUR16.6 per share bid for minority shareholdings in the company.
The proposed EUR16.6 share price excludes Fininfo's 0.4 eur per share dividend for 2006 and is a 25% premium to the vendor's average share price over the past six months.
At the end of the acquisition, Telekurs will take over the financial data unit while Financiere Jeulin will retain Fininfo's "knowledge management" and equities operations.
Telekurs says the acquisition will enlarge its products and services portfolio and will strengthen its position in several countries, especially in France and Scandinavia.
Marc Carletti, CEO, Telekurs Financial, says: "This acquisition allows Telekurs to strengthen our strategy by becoming a leading financial information provider in Europe. For our customers, this initiative brings many advantages, especially our strengthened capacity to accompany them more widely on local or international markets and to offer them products and services."