Markit Acquires MarketXS to Meet Client Demand for Bespoke Delivery of Data and MiFID Compliance Solutions

London and Amsterdam (ots/PRNewswire) - Markit Group Limited
("Markit"), the leading industry source of independent data,
portfolio valuations and trade processing for the OTC derivative
markets, today announced it has acquired MarketXS Holding N.V.
("MarketXS"). MarketXS is a provider of innovative software and
technology for data distribution and trading solutions to the
financial services industry.

The combination of the two firms will provide clients with an
enhanced ability to monitor the global financial markets in
real-time; to publish and distribute proprietary and public prices
and trade information across all asset classes. It will also address
the evolving requirements posed by the European Markets in Financial
Instruments Directive (MiFID).

The combined company will be known as Markit Group Limited and
will have over 300 employees with offices in London, Amsterdam,
Brussels, Chicago, Luxembourg, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto
and White Plains.

Markit is the industry benchmark for data and valuations in the
global financial and commodity derivative markets. The company also
provides trade processing services spanning the complete range of
vanilla and exotic OTC derivative instruments. Markit receives daily
data contributions from over 65 dealing firms, and its services are
used by over 450 institutions to enhance trading operations, reduce
risk and manage compliance.

MarketXS delivers integrated market data and trading solutions to
over 400 customers in more than 30 countries. The company's market
data and order routing technology, the Finance Engine, has extensive
capabilities in the areas of pre-trade price transparency, analytics,
trading, and post-trade reporting. This hosted real-time platform
provides immediate and uniform access to any market or data source
from any location, allowing customers to power their data and trading
systems.

Lance Uggla, CEO of Markit, said: "The acquisition of MarketXS
creates a powerful combination that will allow Markit to create
exciting new products. MarketXS's proven technology complements
Markit's proprietary data to deliver pricing and valuations
seamlessly across all asset classes. The strong synergy between the
two companies allows us to meet the increasing demand for real-time
information and to address the data requirements relating to MiFID."

Jan De Roeck, CEO of MarketXS, who joins Markit's executive team,
commented: "The marriage of MarketXS technology with Markit's unique
data franchise will be of tremendous benefit to our clients who will
gain access to a superior product offering, supported by a global
pool of resources. Traders, institutional investors and operations
professionals will be able to access the highest quality market data
in the format that suits them best - be it terminal, portal, secure
messaging, data feed or API."

Charles Longden, Global Head of Credit Trading at ABN AMRO, noted:
"As a client that values the commercial capabilities of both Markit
and MarketXS, we welcome this combination of complementary services
which will help us evolve further the class-leading service we
provide to our clients. Not only will the acquisition enhance
Markit's ability to serve the dealer community as our requirements
develop, but it will also give institutional investors a new channel
through which to access data, accelerating the evolution of the
financial markets."

Cor Breur, Global Head of Market Data Competence at Fortis, added:
"As substantial users of Markit's data services and MarketXS's
analytics and real-time information, we welcome this deal and look
forward to the benefits it will clearly bring us."

About Markit Group

Markit Group Limited is the leading provider of independent
pricing, reference data, portfolio valuations and OTC derivatives
trade processing to the global financial and commodities markets. The
company receives daily data contributions from over 65 dealing firms,
and its services are used by over 450 institutions to enhance trading
operations, reduce risk and manage compliance.

Markit's position in the derivatives markets has been acknowledged
by the industry with awards from Credit for Best Operational Support
Services Provider 2006; Inside Market Data for Reference Data
Provider of the Year 2006, and Company to Watch 2006; Risk Magazine
for Trading Initiative of the Year 2006 (Credit Event Fixings);
Structured Finance International's Editor's Award for Advancing
Structured Finance 2006; International Securitisation Report's
Editor's Award for Innovation 2005; International Financing Review's
Innovation of the Year 2005 (Credit Event Fixings); Financial News'
Best Derivatives Data Provider 2005; and Institutional Investor's
Operations Management Award for Vendor of the Year 2005.

www.markit.com

About MarketXS

MarketXS is a leading provider of real-time market data technology
and trading solutions. Over 400 customers in more than 30 countries
use its high-availability market data and order routing
infrastructure, the Finance Engine(TM), to power terminals, websites,
transaction systems and other real-time market data applications for
front, middle or back-office with any source of data. The Finance
Engine(TM) provides maximum flexibility, rapid deployment and low
total cost of ownership. MarketXS data sources include IDC ComStock,
Dow Jones Newswires, Standard & Poor's, FT Interactive and direct
feeds from major exchanges and inter-dealer brokers. Direct trading
access is offered to execution venues such as Euronext.liffe, Eurex,
Xetra and Saxobank. MarketXS is the exclusive distributor in Europe,
Middle East & Africa for the HMDP (based on TRS technology) and OCC
(based on Active8 technology) products. MarketXS has offices in
Amsterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg.

For additional information please visit www.marketxs.com

ots Originaltext: Markit Group Limited
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
For further information, please contact: Markit Group, Teresa Chick,
Director, Corporate Communications, Tel: +44-(0)20-7260-2094, Email:
teresa.chick@markit.com