Frankfurt/Main (ots) – dpa and APA announced today that they acquired Thomson Reuter’s shareholding in the real time financial news agency dpa-AFX.
Under the agreement Thomson Reuters sold its 34% shareholding in the joint venture to the remaining partners, the German news agency dpa and the Austrian agency APA who increase their holdings to 76% and 24% respectively.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed however the parties expressed their long term commitment to the business and continuation of existing supply relationships.
The change in structure follows the integration into Reuters of the German editorial staff who previously produced the English language financial news for Thomson Financial and were based in dpa-AFX’s Frankfurt headquarters.
„After the Thomson acquisition of Reuters we produced English-language financial news from Frankfurt in two editorial offices, Reuters and dpa-AFX“, said Andrew Meagher, Head of Real Time Financial Publishing at Thomson Reuters.
„The English news production by dpa-AFX was the main reason to be a shareholder of the joint venture and now that the former AFX (TFN) staff has been transferred to Reuters we satisfied the wish of dpa and APA to sell our share to both German language agencies, particularly since both Reuters and dpa-AFX also offer German-language services“, added Meagher.
„dpa-AFX will continue on its successful course as a platform and vendor-independent business“, said dpa CEO Malte von Trotha. „So, I am happy that we increased dpa’s share. We will continue to provide investors with accurate and rapid information concerning market news“, von Trotha added.
Peter Kropsch, Managing Director of APA, said: „dpa-AFX is a very important partner for the news provision for our clients in the domestic financial market. With increasing its stake APA takes a further step to strengthen its long-term cooperation with dpa-AFX. This is a decision of major strategic relevance.“
dpa-AFX was founded in 1999 by its two major shareholders, dpa and AFX News Ltd. (London), to produce real-time German and English-language financial news in Frankfurt. The AFP financial news subsidiary AFX was taken over in 2006 by the Canadian financial group Thomson. In the spring of 2008, Thomson acquired financial news and information provider Reuters.
—-
dpa-AFX Wirtschaftsnachrichten GmbH is one of the leading news agencies for German language real time financial news. dpa-AFX provides independent, reliable and fast news for institutional and private investors. dpa-AFX is a business-to-business news supplier to financial institutions and media companies which then distribute dpa-AFX News over their intranets, web pages or terminals. dpa-AFX news are used by exchange traders, brokers, fund managers and financial advisors, as well as on company intranets by a wide variety of users. dpa-AFX news are available via numerous platforms such as Bloomberg, IDMS, vwd group or Teletrader. For more information, go to www.dpa-afx.de.
dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur is a trusted, accurate and independent provider of news with the digital and multimedia content to power the media at home and abroad. Our customers benefit from the extensive global network of correspondents and editors maintained by Germany’s leading news wire. News gathering is completely free of outside influence which in turn guarantees that coverage lives up to the strict requirements of the dpa charter: This document lays down that reporting must be free of bias and unfettered by political, economic or governmental ideologies. Print media, radio stations, online and mobile communication providers in more than 100 countries rely on this journalistic excellence around-the-clock. For more information, go to www.dpa.com.
APA – Austria Press Agency is the country’s national news agency and the leading information service provider for Austria. Austrian newspapers and the ORF TV and Radio network own the agency. The APA-Group includes the APA news agency, as well as ten subsidiaries. Its work focuses on the areas of a news agency, photo agency, information management, and information technology. The APA editorial departments supply real-time news service in word, image, graphics, audio and video. APA Finance, the Austria Press Agency’s unit for high-value information on finance, has been providing well-substantiated news about the capital market and market-relevant economic issues for years. The subsidiaries offer dissemination, research, and knowledge management services, as well as information technology solutions. The APA-Group targets its work towards professional users (information managers, PR experts) in the fields of media, politics, public authorities, and economics. APA fulfils its duties independent from the state, governmental, and political party influences and in accordance with the principles of reliability, speed, balanced information and avoidance of any one-sidedness and party influence. For more information, go to www.APA.at.
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI); Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI); London Stock Exchange (LSE: TRIL); and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: TRIN). For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.
Pressekontakt: dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH Justus Demmer Spokesperson +49/40/4113-32510 Demmer.Justus@dpa.com
Thomson Reuters Andrew Meagher Global Head of Real-Time Financial Publishing Reuters News +1/646/223-5269 andrew.meagher@thomsonreuters.com
APA – Austria Presse Agentur Barbara Rauchwarter Head of Marketing & Communications +43/1/360 60-5700 barbara.rauchwarter@apa.at
dpa-AFX Wirtschaftsnachrichten GmbH Cord Dreyer CEO +49/69/920 22-400 dreyer@dpa-AFX.de
Quelle: www.presseportal.de