International Thomson Offers C$100 Million For CMQ Communications, Top Canadian Quote Vendor

Recent speculation that Canada's leading quote vendor may be for sale (MTR, May 1987) has been borne out by subsequent offers. International Thomson Organization, Ltd. has offered to acquire Toronto-based CMQ Communications, Inc. from majority owner David Campbell for about C$100 million. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. is also thought to be in the bidding for CMQ.

None of the parties will comment. CMQ and its affiliates, International Quotation Data Corp., Market Systems Technology, Inc., and Quotation Analytics, Inc., had 1986 revenues of about C$25 million. Thomson is a British publishing, energy, and information services conglomerate with 1986 revenues of 1.7 billion sterling.

Thomson has been actively acquiring properties to fold into its rapidly expanding International Financial Networks (Infinet) group. Recent additions include Technical Data Corp., Business Research Corp., and Computer Directions Advisors, Inc. Infinet also owns American Banker/Bond Buyer and Autex Systems, Inc., which recently signed a Canadian distribution pact with CMQ.

Infinet's priority ambitions most likely don't include becoming a major force in the Canadian financial information business. CMQ's other assets -- including technology and a distribution deal with Telerate -- are probably of greater interest to Thomson than its ongoing business.

CMQ has exclusive rights to distribute Telerate in Canada for the next 15 years and an agreement for the distribution of Telerate data via its "Multiport" product in the U.S. (MTR, May 1986) The company also offers "Marketfeed," a highly-respected broadcast feed of market data from North American exchanges, and "Marketaccess," a package of Stratus-based ticker plant software.

Thomson has long-term plans to integrate all of its electronic Infinet businesses onto one network (see related story, this issue), and CMQ would complement the other companies, filling the need for an exchange-based real-time equities information service. ADP Embargoed

Details of the reported ADP/CMQ negotiations aren't known. ADP isn't shy about growing through acquisition, and CMQ has exclusive Canadian rights to ADP's market database until 1989. This embargoes ADP from the Canadian market for the near future, and ADP needs to be in Canada to service its new number one customer, Merrill Lynch. ADP also might be interested in CMQ's fault-tolerant broadcast feed, since it's obliged to provide one to Merrill.