NY—JL McGregor & Co., a Bejing-based industry consulting firm, announced today that Goldman Sachs made a minority investment in the firm which various sources reported as $7 million. JL McGregor will also become part of the Goldman’s Hudson Street platform, which markets alternative research to Goldman’s clients. JL McGregor represents the eleventh investment that Goldman has made in alternative research.
Previous Hudson Street investments include Epocrates, an industry consulting firm focused on the healthcare sector; TrimTabs, research firm focused on flow of funds information; Lusight Research, an emerging markets specialist; Medley Global Advisors, a policy research firm; iSuppli, a technology industry consulting firm; Connotate Technology, a search-based research firm; Asset4, an ESG research firm; The Quantitative Services Group, a quantitative research provider, and Investars, a firm which tracks research performance. Goldman’s private equity group also invested in Wall Street on Demand, a custom developer of financial web sites.
JL McGregor was started two years ago by the former head of Dow Jones’ China business. It provides primary research and industry analysis to corporations and the financial community. JL McGregor mostly covers technology related sectors, plus a few additional areas, all exclusively China oriented.
Sectors covered are: Internet Search Advertising, Online Games, Budget Hotels, Wireless Service Providers, For-Profit Education, LCD Advertising, Online Advertising, E-Commerce, and Alternative Energy. The firm also provides extensive custom research capabilities, with fifty-five bi-lingual researchers on the ground.
Goldman’s minority investment coincides with the launch of Hudson Street in Asia in late June. The full release follows:
JL McGregor & Company Announces Investment by Goldman Sachs
BEIJING–July 11, 2008–JL McGregor & Company, a provider of China-specific business and financial research, today announced that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) has agreed to make a strategic investment in the firm.
In connection with this investment, Goldman Sachs and JL McGregor have also entered into a distribution agreement whereby JL McGregor’s products and services will be offered to Goldman Sachs’ clients as part of Goldman Sachs’ Hudson Street Services platform. JL McGregor & Company will also use its extensive network of China contacts to help Goldman Sachs’ growing consulting network, Vantage Marketplace LLC, build its network in China.
“Goldman Sachs represents excellence in investment banking and financial services, and we are proud to offer their global clients the data, insight, and intelligence they require to keep up with China as this country speeds ahead,” said James McGregor, chairman and CEO of JL McGregor & Company.
According to Tom Conigliaro, a managing director of Goldman Sachs and head of Hudson Street Services, “JL McGregor & Company’s combination of powerful data collection tools, primary research capabilities, and comprehensive analysis is uniquely positioned to help our clients develop China investment strategies.”
Goldman Sachs’ Hudson Street Services offers investment professionals access to a select platform of unique third-party content providers whose tools can be utilized in clients’ investment processes. Collectively, Hudson Street Services offers a more flexible, more efficient way for clients to access critical information designed to ultimately assist clients in making better investment decisions. Hudson Street Services is a business of Goldman, Sachs & Co., member FINRA and SIPC.
JL McGregor & Company, www.jlmcgregor.com, is a China-focused independent research and consulting firm. The members of its management team have decades of combined experience living and working in China. Headquartered in Beijing with offices in New York and Shanghai, JL McGregor & Company leverages its extensive China experience and relationships to gather proprietary business intelligence for a limited group of global investors.