TV18 Group acquires the assets & staff of CRISIL MarketWire from CRISIL

Television Eighteen India Ltd has announced that, the Television Eighteen Group on November 14, 2006 has announced its decision to acquire the assets and staff of CRISIL MarketWire from CRISIL Ltd. The transfer will take effect January 01, 2007. This follows the earlier decision of CRISIL and TVI8 to jointly develop a framework for business collaboration.

The CMW business will be rechristened NewsWire18 Pvt Ltd and will be a group company of the TV 18 Group. The TV 18 Group is committed to grow the news and the information terminal business.

This transfer will further enhance CMW’s capability to meet customer demand for a good quality, locally-focused real-time news and data product that meets all the needs of financial market participants in India. To achieve this aim, CMW will transform itself from a real-time financial newswire into an integrated information terminal, targeted initially at the domestic market.

The TV18 group will take over all the assets and liabilities and staff of CMW from the effective date. Mr Pankaj Aher, currently Chief Executive Officer of CRISIL MarketWire Ltd, will continue to be the CEO of the business and of NewsWirel8 Pvt Ltd and the entire team of professionals with him at CMW will continue to be associated with the business in the same capacity as currently. The new venture will carry with it all the staff of CMW across all locations and functions.

Mr Haresh Chawla, Group CEO, Television Eighteen India Ltd, said, "We are very pleased to have the CMW business on-board and are committed to help it grow to its rightful potential. This transaction and the news and data platform complements our leadership brands in the financial news and information space and will help us extend our dominance to the institutional segment and serve it better."

The news business will have its own real-time market data and news terminal that is sourced from Tenfore Systems Ltd.

Founded in 1989, Tenfore has direct end users in more than 60 countries, and boasts over 500 corporate clients including HSBC, ING and Rabobank and 45 wholesale / redistribution clients including Thomson Financial and GFI. Tenfore is head quartered in the UK, with offices in Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Mr Raghav Bahl, Managing Director, of the Company said: "The strategic fit that the newswire business will provide to our existing business will create tremendous shareholder value. This acquisition marks an important milestone in our journey towards becoming a more integrated news company."

Source : Equity Bulls

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