17 September 1999
No: 19/99
REUTERS SUBSIDIARY INSTINET ACQUIRES GERMAN BROKER - MONTAG POPPER
London - Reuters electronic broking subsidiary, Instinet, has acquired Montag,
Popper & Partner GmbH (MPP), one of Germany's leading fixed income and equity
brokers, based in Frankfurt. The unaudited net assets of MPP on 30 June 1999
were DM9.2 million. The costs of the acquisition are not material to Reuters.
The acquisition of MPP's bond business will enhance Instinet's entry into the
European fixed income markets and enable Instinet to offer a broader range of
services to its European clients. Instinet also plans to build upon MPP's OTC
bond options business.
MPP's fixed income and options businesses will be fully integrated into
Instinet's newly developed fixed income operations to provide a combined
brokerage capability in Frankfurt and London. The enlarged business will offer a
service to the professional market for Sovereign debt, euro-denominated
instruments and US Treasuries. MPP will continue to participate in the daily
fixing process for German bonds through the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where it
has a leading position in this activity.
MPP's equity unit will transfer into a separate company, managed independently
from Instinet, which will be run by two of the existing MPP partners and a
number of its staff.
MICHAEL EZRA, Managing Director and Head of Brokerage Operations in Europe at
Instinet, said: "The prime objective of this acquisition is to harness an
effective and accessible liquidity pool for the benefit of professional fixed
income market participants in Europe. Our aim is to migrate MPP's solid and
long-standing voice-based broker relationships into our core customer group so
that execution can be delivered by means of an advanced electronic platform."
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The goal of Instinet Fixed Income Markets is to provide greater efficiency,
liquidity and transparency to the global fixed income marketplace, delivered via
a purpose-built, leading-edge, secure and scaleable electronic platform that
will offer real-time trading, reduced transaction costs, greater control and
neutrality.
END
CONTACT:
Instinet:
London: Lorrie Harte Benwell Tel: (44) 171 680 3008
Director of Communications
lorrie.harte_benwell@instinet.co.uk
New York: Terrence Mulry Tel: (212) 310 9554
Vice President of Corporate Communications
t.mulry@instinet.com
Reuters:
Geoff Wicks Tel: (44) 171 542 8666
Director, Corporate Relations
geoff.wicks@reuters.com
Adrian Duffield Tel: (44) 171 542 4728
Manager, Corporate Communications
adrian.duffield@reuters.com
NOTE TO EDITORS
Instinet is the world's largest agency broker and pioneered the use of advanced
technology to enhance the efficiency of broker services in the equity markets.
Its business model provides clients with anonymity, neutrality, liquidity,
transparency and control. Instinet is a member of 17 exchanges around the world
and trades in more than 40 markets. Instinet has taken the expertise built up
over 30 years in the equities markets and applied it to fixed income. Instinet
Fixed Income Markets combines the best attributes of electronic trading with a
dedicated broker desk staffed by market professionals to deliver the first
full-service electronic brokerage solution to the fixed income marketplace.
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23 September 1999
No: 20/99
STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO SHARE PRICE MOVEMENT
Reuters notes the sharp fall in the company's share price today and confirms
that no price sensitive information was released in briefings to US and UK
analysts in New York yesterday.
A spokesman said: "The background briefings were on subjects including internet
strategy, the plans of our Instinet electronic broker and the progress of the
joint venture with Dow Jones."
The company confirmed that nothing was said at the briefing that could be
construed as a profits forecast or a profits warning and there is no price
sensitive information which it should announce.
The company will be updating the market in the normal course of events on 21
October when the third quarter revenue figures will be available.
END
CONTACT:
Peter.V.Thomas Tel: 0171 542 4890
Director, Media Relations
peter.v.thomas@reuters.com
Tim Spratt Tel: 0207 831 3113
Director
Financial Dynamics
NOTE TO EDITORS
Reuters supplies the global financial markets and the news media with the widest
range of information and news products including real-time financial data,
collective investment data, numerical, textual, historical and graphical
databases plus news, graphics, news video, and news pictures. It reaches over
519,000 users in 57,720 locations and
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extensively uses internet technologies for wider distribution of information and
news. Reuters designs and installs enterprise-wide information management and
risk management systems for the financial markets as well as providing equity
and foreign exchange transaction systems. Reuters provides news and information
to over 225 Internet sites reaching an estimated 12 million viewers monthly.
Reuters is the world's largest news and television agency with 1,946
journalists, photographers and camera operators in 183 bureaux serving 157
countries. News is published in 23 languages. Instinet, an international
electronic agency stockbroker, is an independently managed subsidiary of
Reuters. The Group employed 16,898 staff in 212 cities in 95 countries at 30
June 1999.
For more details see www.reuters.com/mediapack/
Reuters and the dotted and sphere logos are the trademarks of the Reuters Group
of Companies.