UK financial data vendor Hemscott is to buy CoreData of the US for £7.3 million and take on a new majority shareholder
New York-based media bank Veronis Suhler Stevenson will emerge with a 54% stake in Hemscott upon completion of the deal, comprising £600,000 in cash and 16.5 million consideration shares. Veronis Suhler is also making a £20m convertible note facility available to provide capital for further acquisitions.
Hemscott chief executive Rosalyn Wilton says: "This is a transformational deal. It takes us into the US, brings the US data to our UK business, and gives us a strong underlying shareholder with a deep knowledge of the sector and a history of building businesses."
CoreData provides Hemscott with 100 US clients tapping into a 30-year database of North American business and financial information.
In the half year to 30 June 2004, CoreData posted audited revenues of $2.5 million and a loss before tax of $1.3 million.
Hemscott has also reported interim results showing a pre-tax loss of £200,000 for the half-year on revenues up eight per cent to £3.5 million. The company cautioned that it currently faces a challenging trading environment in data sales.