IDC Interactive Data Corp.

Interactive Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC), a leading provider of financial market data and analytic tools to institutional investors, active traders and individual investors, today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire IS.Teledata AG and its subsidiaries from its shareholders for a purchase price of EUR 48.5 million (or approximately $58.2 million based on current exchange rates) in cash, or approximately EUR 44.5 million (or approximately $53.4 million based on current exchange rates) net of expected cash at IS.Teledata. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2005, and is contingent upon attaining at least 95 percent approval from IS.Teledata shareholders as well as customary closing conditions, including various governmental approvals. IS.Teledata, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, is a privately held provider of managed market data solutions to financial institutions. IS.Teledata's offerings include hosting services, software and content, and related services, which are used by financial services firms to deliver a range of financial content, business information and analytics to employees, customers and business partners. IS.Teledata's growing base of around 200 clients throughout Europe includes leading retail banks, private banks, investment banks, issuers, asset managers, online brokers and infomedia portals which they service through offices in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. IS.Teledata's customizable managed market data solutions provide access to a wide array of aggregated financial data that is designed to assist its clients in optimizing their business processes, lowering their costs, and improving relationships with their customers. IS.Teledata currently employs more than 250 people. "Acquiring IS.Teledata will help us achieve several strategic objectives," stated Stuart Clark, Interactive Data's president and chief executive officer. "Firstly, IS.Teledata will provide us with a valuable and established set of offerings that will help us break into new markets and allow customers to better use our content while lowering their operating costs. Secondly, we will gain a stronger customer footprint across continental Europe through which we can deliver a broader portfolio of content and analytical tools designed for local marketplaces. Thirdly, we believe that IS.Teledata will serve as a valuable product innovation engine for our European operations, enabling us to advance our services in new and exciting directions." ComStock, Interactive Data's real-time datafeed business, has worked closely with IS.Teledata since 1997, providing real-time content to the majority of IS.Teledata customers in Europe. As part of a strategic alliance between the two companies, ComStock has also been reselling IS.Teledata products in North America on a private label basis. Upon completion of the transaction, IS.Teledata will be managed as part of ComStock. Stephan Wolf, spokesman of the executive board of IS.Teledata, will report directly to Mark Hepsworth, who was recently named president of ComStock, and work closely with Interactive Data's other executives to expand its business worldwide. "Acquiring IS.Teledata is a natural extension of the strong relationship that ComStock and IS.Teledata have developed during the past eight years," stated Mark Hepsworth, president of ComStock. "Now we have an exciting opportunity to link the broad capabilities of the Interactive Data family of businesses with the proven aggregation strengths of IS.Teledata. This combination will allow us to offer enterprise-wide solutions to our customer base, and further leverage the breadth and depth of our global distribution channels." Interactive Data expects that IS.Teledata's 2005 service revenue will be in the range of EUR 35 million to EUR 38 million (or approximately $42 million to $46 million based on current exchange rates) with operating expenses, including depreciation, in the range of EUR 31 million to EUR 34 million (or approximately $37 million to $41 million based on current exchange rates). Assuming the transaction closes during the fourth quarter of 2005, Interactive Data anticipates that the transaction will be earnings neutral in 2005 and 2006, and through a combination of planned revenue growth and operational synergies, accretive to earnings in 2007. Interactive Data Corporation Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Federal securities laws, and is subject to the safe-harbor created by such Act and laws. Forward-looking statements include our statements discussing future financial conditions, results or projections, including statements relating to (i) the anticipated impact of the IS.Teledata on our business, including any impact on our earnings, (ii) our estimation of IS.Teledata 2005 revenue and expenses, (iii) the anticipated timing of the closing, (iv) our plans to expand the services we offer to IS.Teledata, ComStock or Interactive Data customers, (v) our ability to gain a stronger presence in Europe and penetrate new markets for our services as a result of the acquisition and accomplish our other strategic objectives, (vi) our ability to facilitate better use of our content by our customers and to lower the operating costs of our customers, and (v) our plans to combine IS.Teledata and ComStock's products and services to achieve cost-savings synergies and revenue growth. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include: the acquisition may not close on a timely basis or at all; our ability to successfully integrate the IS.Teledata business; and our ability to retain key employees of IS.Teledata. Other factors include, but are not limited to: (i) the presence of competitors with greater financial resources than ours and their strategic response to our services and products; (ii) a possible decline in activity levels in the European securities markets; (iii) new offerings by competitors or new technologies that could cause our products or services to become less competitive or obsolete; and (iv) other factors identified in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. About IS.Teledata AG IS.Teledata AG is Europe's largest provider of customisable financial market information systems. About 200 retail banks, private banks, investment banks, issuers, asset managers, online brokers and media portals optimise business processes and costs using tailored content and interactive analysis of financial market data. IS.Teledata aggregates data from all asset classes and in-house content and integrates them into modular Internet and intranet applications and terminal solutions. Employees and customers of financial service providers thus benefit from relevant information and specific functionality in easy-to-use interfaces. IS.Teledata AG has 250 corporate employees in seven European countries. About ComStock ComStock, a subsidiary of Interactive Data Corporation, is a leading provider of real-time global financial information to financial institutions, financial information re-distributors and online media portals worldwide. ComStock's suite of services ranges from a real-time datafeed, to fully customized and hosted market data solutions. About Interactive Data Corporation Interactive Data Corporation is a leading global provider of securities pricing, financial information, and analytic tools to institutional and individual investors. The Company supplies time-sensitive pricing (including evaluated pricing), dividend, corporate action, and descriptive information for more than 3.5 million securities traded around the world, including hard-to-value instruments. Many of the world's best-known financial services and software companies subscribe to the Company's services in support of their trading, analysis, portfolio management, and valuation activities. Interactive Data Corporation is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts. Through its branded businesses, FT Interactive Data, ComStock, CMS BondEdge, and eSignal, Interactive Data Corporation has approximately 1,800 employees in offices located throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Pearson plc (NYSE: PSO), an international media company, whose businesses include the Financial Times Group, Pearson Education, and the Penguin Group, owns approximately 60 percent of the outstanding common stock of Interactive Data Corporation. The FT Interactive Data business includes FT Interactive Data Corporation, a Delaware corporation. The ComStock business includes ComStock, Inc., a New York corporation.