The Wall Street Journal-20080115-NYSE to Buy Software Firm
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NYSE to Buy Software Firm
New York Stock Exchange parent NYSE Euronext said it would buy closely held Wombat Financial Software for $200 million.
The 140-employee company facilitates the management of large blocks of fast-moving trading data. Such information-management systems have grown in importance for NYSE as a larger share of its stock-trading business moves to electronic systems from its century-old Lower Manhattan trading floor.
NYSE Euronext expects the deal to close early in the second quarter and add to its 2009 earnings. In 2007, Wombat posted revenue of $28 million, with Ebitda (or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margins in excess of 35%.
The NYSE and competitor Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. have been working to expand their data-management businesses as they have become publicly owned companies intent on profit growth. Media companies such as Bloomberg LP are also big players in distributing market data from exchanges.
