Dun & Bradstreet to Spin Off Moody's Division
Business-information provider Dun & Bradstreet Corp., Murray Hill, NJ, yesterday said it would separate its Moody's Investors Service credit-rating business and its credit information division, which provides data that is used by business-to-business direct marketers and others, into two independent companies. The company, which has been under pressure from some shareholders to sell itself, said it retained investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, New York, to conduct an analysis of the split and develop a transaction structure.The split is subject to approval by the company's board of directors and a favorable tax ruling.
The company said its business-information division, which is called the Dun & Bradstreet Operating Co. and accounts for more than half its revenues, has been underperforming this year. Direct marketers use information from that division to evaluate business prospects.
In the past four years, the company has sold several other divisions, including publisher R.H. Donnelley Corp., market research firm AC Nielsen Corp., and Cognizant, which has since split into IMS Health Inc. and Nielsen Media Research Inc.
