vwd acquires majority of MARKET MAKER
vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH is acquiring a majority position in MARKET MAKER Software AG, based in Kaiserslautern, from Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt GmbH retroactive to January 1, 2004. This move marks the start of the second strategic phase in the new group structure, which began with the split-up of vwd.
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For nearly 15 years, MARKET MAKER Software AG has been the market leader in the area of portfolio management and securities research solutions. Having already assumed market leadership among private investors and independent asset managers, the company is now striving to become the quality leader in the banking segment, in particular retail and private banking.
Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt has been a major shareholder in MARKET MAKER since 1998 and is now selling its stake to vwd to enable MARKET MAKER to further intensify its focus on its core strength and strategically develop its product portfolio by making use of vwd's core competencies within the new group structure.
The takeover allows vwd to ideally complement its important "Market Data Solutions" business. The intense, roughly 10-year partnership between the two companies will be deepened further. The "portfolio manager", "I* ProductLine" and DATA-POOL products that were developed for professional users will be integrated fully into vwd's product portfolio.
vwd Group thus boasts a product portfolio for the securities business that is unrivaled in Germany. From asset management through retail banking to private banking, users have access to coordinated, powerful and widely distributed products from a single source. These products help them markedly reduce introduction times and project costs, in particular.
"This change in our shareholder structure is strategically important to our company. It is a logical consequence of our previous cooperation. Customers of vwd and MARKET MAKER will profit from the new constellation at all levels because our projects will provide 'One Face to the Customer'", says Christian Hank, chairman of the management board of MARKET MAKER Software AG, who will be part of the vwd Group management in the future.
Edmund J. Keferstein, chief executive and partner of vwd Vereinigte Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH since April 2004, added: "This move brings us a decisive step closer to our goal of offering an integrated product family from a single source covering the entire spectrum of value creation in the securities business. The flagship of this product family will be a new generation of real-time products that will be launched before the end of the year. Based on these developments, we will markedly increase our growth to the benefit of our customers."