Merrill Lynch is to sell its securities pricing service to Interactive Data Corporation in a $48 million deal.
MLSPS provides information on global financial instruments and price evaluations on 2.9 million equity and fixed income securities. Financial institutions then use the evaluations to calculate net asset values and conduct investment research.
MLSPS' revenues in 2000 totalled approximately $22 million.
Stuart Clark, president and chief executive officer, says: "MLSPS will be integrated with our FT Interactive Data branded business, enabling us to enhance our pricing and coverage of fixed income securities as a result of the additional resources we acquire and through our access to data from the Merrill Lynch trading desks."
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2002.