Founded in 2002, Praedea develops enterprise software for automated data extraction. Praedea licenses its software product to major financial market data vendors and other financial market participants to expedite the process of data collection, making high quality data available in near real time.

The acquisition advances Xinhua Finance's data collection strategy enabling it and its subsidiary Mergent to continue to meet global needs for near-real-time transparent and added-value financial information. Immediately following the acquisition, Praedea will change its name to Mergent Data Technology, Inc.

Jonathan Worrall CEO of Mergent Inc. stated, "This acquisition, which was made after extensive research and trials, considerably enhances our ability to achieve the mission of being the premier provider of global financial data. The marriage of the latest proven technology combined with the industries leading data collection process and the most comprehensive data history available make this a truly unique offering."

He further added, "This allows Mergent to compete not only as a traditional data provider but also as a serious competitor in the market for the outsourcing of global financial data collection. Outsourcing through inexpensive labor has proven problematic as cost and retention issues continue. The application of technology to base data collection combined with Mergent's proven historical databases allows clients to outsource the collection of commodity like data and focus their effort on value added business processes."

Mergent, Inc., the leading provider of business and financial data on global publicly listed companies, jointed the Xinhua Finance family in July 2004, adding depth to Xinhua Finance's ratings services with its range of research tools and data.