Thomson Financial Services Extends Commitment to Latin American Market through Joint Venture with High Tech Editores

Business Wire, April 15, 1999

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 1999--

TFS' American Banker Bond Buyer Unit Partners with High Tech Editores

to Launch Infobanca

Thomson Financial Services' (TFS) American Banker Bond Buyer (ABBB) unit has entered into a joint venture with High Tech Editores (HTE), a leading technology publishing company in Mexico City, to launch Infobanca. Based in Mexico City, Infobanca is an information company catering to banking and financial services executives in Latin America. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Infobanca's first undertaking will be the launch in June of Banca Latina, the first ever pan-Latin American banking and finance technology magazine. Produced in Spanish out of Infobanca's offices in Mexico City, Banca Latina will cover the business of banking and finance throughout the region. It will also translate into Spanish selected articles from ABBB publications including the American Banker daily newspaper and Future Banker and Financial Services Marketing magazines. Banca Latina will be circulated throughout Spanish-speaking Latin America. It is a successor publication to Banca Electronica, a Mexican banking technology publication currently published by HTE.

"American Banker has spent 163 years covering the U.S. banking and financial services industry, which is the world's most innovative," said Marco Maytorena, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Infobanca and Director General of High Tech Editores. "Its editorial expertise will be well received in the developing markets of Latin America."

The launch of the joint venture magazine represents Thomson Financial Services' first Spanish language financial magazine venture, according to William G. Holman, Managing Director of TF Latin America and a Banca Latina Board of Directors member. Holman stated, "Banca Latina establishes a platform for the development of local market content for print as well as electronic information services. It also allows for the enhanced distribution of our North American premier banking and finance content, ensuring our reporting and analysis will find its way to readers in the Latin American region in a format developed especially for them."

Infobanca will also produce the Expo Tecnobanca, Latin America's premiere financial services technology tradeshow and conference. Held at the World Trade Center in Mexico City on June 23-25, Expo Tecnobanca will feature exhibitors including Microsoft, Schlumberger and NCR showcasing their wares for up to 5,000 attendees. HTE has produced Expo Tecnobanca for the past three years.

"The Latin American banking and financial services market is growing rapidly, especially in its use of technology," said Andrew Sollinger, an Infobanca Board of Directors member and Vice President of New Product Development at ABBB. "The partnership with an experienced local publisher and tradeshow/conference organizer will enable us to grow quickly in this emerging region."

Based in Mexico City, High Tech Editores also publishes InfoChannel Mexico and InfoChannel Latinoamerica, the leading computer reseller publications in Mexico and Latin America.

The 163-year old American Banker is the leading daily newspaper covering banking and financial services in the United States. In addition to the daily newspaper and Future Banker and Financial Services Marketing magazines, New York-based ABBB produces The Bond Buyer, the daily newspaper of public finance, Securities Industry News, the weekly newspaper of securities operations, processing and technology, as well as web sites, newsletters and conferences. For more information, visit the AB website at www.americanbanker.com.

ABBB is a unit of Thomson Financial Services (TFS), a leading provider of information services and work solutions to the worldwide financial community. TFS, part of The Thomson Corporation (TTC), has 40 offices located throughout the world and employs more than 7,000 people dedicated to the success of its clients. With annual revenues approaching US$6 billion, TTC is one of the world's leading information and publishing companies. TTC's common shares are traded on the Toronto, Montreal and London stock exchanges. For more information, visit the TFS Web site at www.tfn.com.