Reuters has sold its TowerGroup research-consulting unit to MasterCard Advisors, a subsidiary of credit card issuer MasterCard International. The Needham, Massachusetts-based TowerGroup will operate as a separate business with independent editorial from Purchase, New York-based TowerGroup.

Karen Cone, formerly the MasterCard Advisors Global Practice Leader for Research, will take over as president and CEO of TowerGroup. She will also continue to head Purchase Street Research, another firm owned by MasterCard Advisors. Before joining MasterCard Advisors in May 2003, Cone spent ten years at Gartner Inc. and 19 years at IBM.

Mark Sievewright, the outgoing president and CEO of TowerGroup will work with the firm through the transition and then pursue other opportunities.

Reuters officials said they divested TowerGroup as part of a strategy aimed at increasing their focus on core businesses. TowerGroup had been a subsidiary of Reuters since 1999.

G. Henry Mundt III, president of MasterCard Advisors, explained that they purchased the firm to "deepen and strengthen" their research expertise and to "provide clients with best-in-class advisory research across the financial services industry." He added that the purchase will "accelerates the growth of advisory research offerings" and allow the firm to leverage its payments expertise across the financial services industry.

"We understand the importance of keeping advisory research objective and independent, and believe it is essential that TowerGroup analysts continue to represent their own point-of-view and not the views of MasterCard Advisors or MasterCard International," added Mundt.  

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