Financial Research Firm Acquired

UK-based financial product researcher and database operator Defaqto has been acquired along with parent TIRGL by Find Portal Limited, a specialist in online financial marketing and brand development.

Find Portal owns and operates www.find.co.uk , one of the UK's leading consumer finance portals. Defaqto Limited, the principal UK operating subsidiary of The Independent Research Group Limited (TIRGL), was established in November 1993 to provide comprehensive and up-to-date product information to the financial services industry.

Defaqto reported a turnover of £4.1m in 2005, up 8% on the previous year, and employs around 75 people. Clients include most of the UK's leading financial institutions including major banks, building societies, investment houses and insurance companies and thousands of IFAs and insurance brokers, as well as UK government and regulatory bodies.

Kenn Herskind, CEO of Find, says the move consolidates his firm's position as 'the digital partner of choice for the UK's most reputable financial institutions. We not only get access to new consulting services, but also exceptional products such as the Aequos database, widely regarded as the leading financial product research tool.' Find says it also aims to exploit the online potential for Defaqto's data. Combined with its existing editorial content to offer consumers new ways to interact with financial information and make financial choices.

According to James Cox of 3i, TIRGL's largest shareholder, the transaction 'offers a good opportunity for us to realise our investment and provides the company with the ability to continue to grow and benefit from being part of Find.' Find is backed by FF&P Private Equity Limited, the private equity division of Fleming Family & Partners, and Electra Quoted Management, part of the Electra Partners Group.

The Aequos database offers user-defined product comparison for over 30,000 products from over 1,000 providers covering mortgages, savings, loans and credit cards, life, pensions, healthcare and more. Defaqto recently launched Aequos Engage, an online adviser-dedicated product search engine, covering life, pensions and investments, and its other products include FundTracker and RateTracker. Defaqto is online at www.defaqto.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.