(September 12 – 09:40 ET) – Seven of the world’s largest investment banks are joining forces to build a Web portal offering their equity research to institutional investors.
The portal at www.themarkets.com will bring together research from Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Salomon Smith Barney, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, and UBS Warburg. It will offer equity research, new issue information, news, market data, and direct access to the proprietary Web sites of the participants.
The Web site will eliminate the need to visit several separate sites. It will also provide a calendar of equity new issue information. One password will provide investors with access to each member firm’s Web site. Comprehensive personalization tools will permit buy side clients, such as portfolio managers, analysts, and other clients, to filter the vast amount of information out there.
The portal will provide summary views of proprietary content on a company-by-company basis, including recommendations, price targets, actual and forecasted earnings estimates, and other key valuation metrics. Proprietary research will be augmented with multimedia presentations to enhance content.
“With TheMarkets.com we move beyond traditional delivery options and harness Internet technology to help our clients work more productively. Aggregating the firms’ global resources in a single flexible and convenient portal will enable them to act more quickly and efficiently,” said Thomas Joyce, co-head of global electronic equity trading at Merrill Lynch.
TheMarkets.com will be structured as a limited liability company. A client advisory board is in the process of being formed, and a search for a CEO is underway. The new site is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2000 and it will be operated by Multex.com Inc.
-IE Staff