Reuters in talks to buy Telerate for £165m

Reuters, the financial news and information giant, is believed to be in talks to acquire Telerate, one of its competitors in the data market, for up to $300m (£165m).

Reuters, the financial news and information giant, is believed to be in talks to acquire Telerate, one of its competitors in the data market, for up to $300m (£165m).

Telerate provides pricing information for the bond markets, a sector that Reuters has been targeting in the face of stiff competition from its arch-rival Bloomberg. Thomson, another player in the bond sector, recently expanded by buying TradeWeb, putting further pressure on Reuters.

Before Bloomberg's phenomenal growth over the last 20 years, driven by success in serving traders in the bond market, Reuters and Telerate were the two main players in the sector. Telerate's business has been in long-term decline, not helped by several changes of ownership. However, it has a significant position in the US bond market, which Reuters has found hard to crack.

Telerate is now privately owned by One Equity Partners, which is looking to sell the business. Industry sources suggested that Reuters' acquisition would value the business at anything between $120m and $300m - even though Telerate changed hands three years ago for just $15m. Reuters declined to comment.

Angela Wilbraham, the managing director of A-Team Consulting, which specialises in the data technology sector, said: "The combination of both companies' bond coverage would improve Reuters' offerings, but it's not clear that that would be sufficient to give Bloomberg a run for its money."