Xinhua Finance announced that Mergent, Inc., its fully owned subsidiary, has expanded its product offering with the launch of a new service designed to deliver critical data to the rapidly growing hedge fund market.

Mergent, a leading provider of global corporate and financial information, has been serving the financial industry since 1900 and was acquired by Xinhua Finance in June 2004. Mergent has created the new program to allow hedge funds to easily access to timely, transparent and accurate data to help them maximize returns for any specific degree of risk.

Key elements of the new initiative are Mergent's BondSource and EventsData information services that will put the most accurate, timely and easily accessible financial data in the industry on the desks of hedge fund portfolio managers, analysts, traders and back office personnel.

"Mergent has been a leader in developing innovative tools for the financial services industry. The new products will further build on the wide variety of business and financial products our company provides, from online corporate events data and bond pricing to transparent access to standardized equity information and common stock handbooks," stated Jonathan Worrall, CEO of Mergent, Inc.