Nasdaq has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Shareholder.com, a Massachusetts-based provider of shareholder communications and investor relations services, for an undisclosed sum.
Privately-owned Shareholder.com currently serves over 1000 clients, including 396 companies currently listed on Nasdaq.
Nasdaq says the acquisition will enable it to provide investor relations and other services to its 3200 listed companies and other publicly held firms, supplementing the consulting and investor services provided by its corporate client group.
The transaction encompasses Shareholder's three offices located in Maynard, Massachusetts, San Francisco, and Amsterdam and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006. Following the acquisition, the company will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nasdaq.
Bruce Aust, EVP, Nasdaq comments: "Nasdaq is continuing to find new ways to support public companies by offering investor relations and other services essential to operating a publicly held company."
In June last year the stock market operator teamed with Reuters to form the Independent Research Network to provide independent analysis on US listed companies.