Reuters to acquire text search firm ClearForest

By Eric Auchard

SAN FRANCISCO, April 30 (Reuters) - News and information supplier Reuters Group Plc RTR.L said on Monday the company would acquire ClearForest Ltd., a maker of software used to search vast archives of news, Web pages and documents for relevant facts.

The deal calls for Reuters to buy all of the outstanding shares of the privately held Israeli-American company. Terms were not disclosed.

ClearForest is a provider of text analytics software, which is used to "tag," or categorize, unstructured information to extract facts about people, organizations, places or other details from news articles, Web pages and other documents.

"This acquisition helps us to put in context our vast amount of content and to deliver more relevant information," said Gerry Campbell, who last year was named to head up the new search and strategic development group of Reuters.

ClearForest's competitors include Autonomy Corp. (AUTN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and privately held firms such as Nstein and Inxight, a spinout from Xerox Corp.'s (XRX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Palo Alto Research Center.

ClearForest has received approval from its shareholders and the deal is expected to close in about 30 days, subject to customary closing conditions, Reuters said.

ClearForest, which is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts and conducts research and development in Or-Yehuda, Israel, near Tel Aviv, has about 30 employees.