This joint venture is created following the 51% participation of Fininfo in the capital of the Secrétariat des Valeurs Mobilières s.a.(S.V.M. s.a.), hitherto a 100% subsidiary of Euronext Brussels, and will mainly operate on the Belgian and Dutch markets. Fininfo, for its part, is leader on the French market. It will have at its disposal a wide variety of information products and services to financial institutions.
The thus created company will take on the commitments and commercial relations of S.V.M. s.a. and will continue the distribution and management of the existing S.V.M. products and services.
The partnership agreement proves the will of both partners to further their development as European players in the market of financial information. The partnership agreement could be extended to other countries where the two partners may develop activities.
When commenting this partnership, Lionel Habasque, C.E.O. of Fininfo stated that: "This agreement reinforces the existing links between Euronext and Fininfo in the field of gathering corporate events in the French, Belgian and Dutch markets. The first objective is to extend the know-how of the gathering process on the level of the distribution of this information to the financial institutions."
Commenting this new partnership, Olivier Lefebvre, Executive Vice-President of Euronext said: "This operation gives Euronext the opportunity to confirm, close to its own core business, a global competence on information on corporate events, for listed or not listed securities, while benefiting from the expertise of a specialist partner in this field."
Fininfo S.A. internationally supplies financial information services to financial institutions and companies, and has subsidiaries in France, the UK, Spain, Germany and Morocco. With 950 employees and a consolidated 2001 turnover of € 119.3 million, the development of Fininfo is based upon three activities: financial information, commercial reporting and internet-based finance. Fininfo is listed on the Second Marché of Euronext (code SICOVAM/ 3097).
Euronext N.V. is the first pan-European exchange operating the cash and derivative exchanges of Amsterdam, Brussels Lisbon and Paris , and includes as well the London exchange Liffe. As of 28 February 2002, 1,587 companies were listed on Euronext regulated markets representing a market capitalization of Euro 2,077 billion. For the first two months of 2002, 118 million futures and options were traded on Euronext derivative markets.
