Prime-Tass becomes Russia's Capitallogica shareholder

MOSCOW, Sept 9 (Prime-Tass) -- Russia's leading business news agency Prime-Tass has become a shareholder in the CapitalLogica Ltd. company, two companies said in a press statement Thursday.

"Our decision to enter CapitalLogica's business reflects our business strategy," Alexei Meleshko, chairman of Prime-Tass' board of directors, said quoted in the press release. "We plan to continue expanding our market share and believe that CapitalLogica's product line gives us an edge both in terms of new product development and in distribution of our products."

CapitalLogica is a Russian independent agency specializing in financial information and was established in 2001. CapitalLogica is a proprietor of RusIndex index agency, which was created in recognition of the market need for an independent provider of financial benchmarks. In May 2003 Dow Jones and RusIndex joined forces to create Dow Jones RusIndex Titans 10 and Dow Jones RusIndex Total Market Index.

"We see Prime-Tass as a strategic partner which has the right infrastructure and technology," says Edward Zernin, chairman of CapitalLogica's board of directors. "We plan to offer our international clients a range of new joint products."

Prime-Tass is one of the leading business news agencies in Russia. Privately controlled, the agency has no political affiliations, and is known for its objective coverage worldwide. In June 2003 Prime-Tass announced a content exchange and sales partnership with Dow Jones Newswires, the world's leading provider of real-time business and financial news. In February 2004 Prime-Tass together with Dow Jones Newswires launched DJ Forex, the first Russian-language news service to focus on the foreign exchange markets.