QAI's software solutions are used by more than 200 of the world's most prominent investment firms for securities selection, modeling, back-testing, portfolio construction and trading strategy development. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

QAI integrates multiple data sources, including proprietary customer data, to create an integrated database of financial information and provides a suite of analytical tools to query or "mine" the database for insights and trading ideas. Upon completion of the acquisition, Thomson Financial will have the ability to deliver integrated, multi-asset class workflow solutions on a global basis.

"In a highly competitive and often fragmented market, QAI has established itself as the leading provider of multi-asset class, high-end analytics. I believe the combined capabilities of our businesses will immediately position Thomson Financial at the forefront of the solutions space for investment managers," said Suresh Kavan, President of the Corporate Services, Investment Banking and Investment Management segments of Thomson Financial. "Following the acquisition, our product suite will provide Thomson clients with one-stop access to market leading data sets, quantitative analytics and integrated delivery systems. Together, we are well positioned to penetrate new sub-segments, address expanded opportunities in new geographies and improve client performance in the $2.5 billion buy-side market."

"For many years we have enjoyed a strong partnership with Thomson Financial, while our customers have benefited from our analytical and data integration tools applied to Thomson's leading databases. We feel this acquisition is the perfect next step - bringing together the best content and analytics and the broadest customer base in the industry," said Bill Aronin, President and CEO of QAI. "We see this transaction as an opportunity to take our offerings to the next level of scale and service and are excited to have reached this agreement with Thomson."

All of QAI's management team and employees will become part of the Investment Management segment of Thomson Financial and will continue to develop industry leading analytics.

Thomson and QAI have received confirmation that the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has been terminated. Thomson and QAI expect to close the transaction shortly, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.