While the cats are away( or at least busy building
Jinfo Blog

28th March 2008

Item

Wolters Kluwer, long seen as an acquisition target itself, will be using the coming months to target acquisitions of its own. This was the sentiment expressed by its CEO Nancy McKinstry in a recent Financial Times interview. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1b5c7288-ee25-11dc-a5c1-0000779fd2ac.html. In it she said: “My own impression is that Reed and Thomson will be very busy making their acquisitions work. That gives us an opportunity in the marketplace,” It is likely that Wolters Kluwer will look for complementary companies to acquire in its main markets, namely, legal information, financial services, tax, accounting and health information products. In her Chairman’s message of the Annual Report Mrs. McKinstry indicated electronic revenue makes up half of the of the company’s total revenues and that the company has moved fast to exploit new market opportunities, especially in Russia and China. http://www.wolterskluwer.com/WK/Press/Corporate+Press+Releases/2008/pr_20Mar08.htm Mrs McKinstry joined Wolters Kluwer in 2003 and began a restructuring programme which completed in 2007 with, amongst other events, the sale of the educational publishing business. While Thomson/Reuters and Reed/Choicepoint spend their collective energies on corporate integration throughout 2008 Wolters Kluwer seems ideally placed to acquire or partner with significant niche information providers to bolster its already impressive stable of brands. That can only be good for the information marketplace and for the many business and professional services’ subscribers who depend on this vendor.

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