PLATTS BUYS FINANCIAL TIMES ENERGY; STANDARD & POOR'S COMPLETES PURCHASE.

Platts, the energy information and marketing services unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. (New York), has acquired the assets of Financial Times Energy (Boulder, CO) from parents Financial Times and Pearson plc. (London) for for an estimated $99 million.

FT Energy, which has branch offices in Houston, Arlington (VA) and London, is a provider of information, research and consulting services for the energy markets. Its products include energy studies, directories, databases, conferences and nearly 30 print newsletters that were acquired in the $17.8 million acquisition of Pasha Publications (Arlington, VA) in the second quarter of 1998.

Newsletter titles include Megawatt Daily, Gas Daily, Coal Outlook, Coals & Synfuel Technology, NGV News and Power in Europe. The future of the newsletters appears uncertain with some titles serving overlapping markets. FT Energy also produces such conferences such as "PowerMart" and "Coal Marketing Days," offers consulting services through its E Source and RDI products, and database and analytical tools such as "POWERdat," "GASdat" and "POWERmap."

FT Energy's headquarters will become Platts' center of database, analysis, research and consulting services. FT Energy had estimated 2000 revenues over $50 million.

Platts provides energy market information through real-time and Internet-based news services, newsletters, market reports, databases, magazines and conferences. Its products cover the oil, petrochemical, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, coal, metals and bandwidth markets. It has 14 offices worldwide.

Platts president Harry Sachinis said the acquisition of FT Energy will "allow us to meet a broader range of customer needs. By leveraging Platts' global infrastructure and online reach, we'll be able to extend FT Energy's offerings into new energy sectors and geographic areas.

In related news, McGraw-Hill division Standard & Poor's has completed its acquisition of the U.S. Corporate Value Consulting (CVC) business from PricewaterhouseCoopers (New York). No terms were given.

CVC provides valuation and value analysis to major U.S. companies for financial reporting, tax, business combinations, corporate restructurings, capital allocation and capital structure purposes. CVC has 400 employees in 13 U.S. offices and had 2000 revenues of about $100 million. CVC will be called Standard & Poor's Corporate Value Consulting and will operate independently from S&P's other two main units, Credit Market Services and Information Services.