The proposed acquisition by Reuters Holdings Plc of the share price quotation business of Citicorp’s Quotron Systems Inc – and it appears the New York bank is coming close to paying Reuters to take away the core of the company that it bought in 1986 for $630m – would increase Reuters’ share of the US share price quotation delivery business to an estimated 30% from 3%, the Wall Street Journal reckons, and give Reuters about 25% globally, leaping it ahead of Automatic Data Processing Inc, Roseland, New Jersey, which has about 20%; the acquisition will not come free, because Reuters will need to upgrade terminals and enhance the service, and there are the usual regulatory hurdles to be overcome, but the deal still looks very good.
