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Experian Pays $500M for Shopping Site

Costa Mesa-based Experian Information Solutions Inc. has paid nearly $500 million for a Los Angeles-based comparison shopping Web site, its biggest acquisition since 1998, the company said Wednesday.

Experian, one of the three large global credit ratings agencies, bought PriceGrabber.com LLC as part of its growing focus on targeting consumers on the Internet.

The buy gives Experian a new way to cull potential customers as they shop online.

“It’s very important to us,” said Don Robert, chief executive of Experian, which is part of British retailer GUS PLC. “It follows some very important industry trends in terms of overall growth in e-commerce, and the migration of advertising dollars from traditional media to the Internet.”

PriceGrabber.com, which was founded in 1999, is set to grow sales by 50% to $60 million this year in an industry that has annual growth rates of 40%.

The Web site allows users to pick a product and get results on prices and features from several sources.

Being part of Experian will let PriceGrabber.com ramp up its international expansion, which now consists of just Britain and Canada, said Kamran Pourzanjani, president of PriceGrabber.com.

“We felt that comparison shopping is a universal concept,” Pourzanjani said.

PriceGrabber.com becomes part of Experian Interactive, the unit that connects consumers with companies over the Internet. The unit contributed one-third of sales to the Experian Americas business in the six months ending Sept. 30.

Earlier this year, Experian Interactive picked up Santa Monica-based LowerMyBills.com for about $330 million. The site, which helps consumers find cheap mortgages, has enabled Experian customers to target online users.

Experian is one of Orange County’s largest businesses with sales of more than $2 billion annually. The company is set to “de-merge” from its British parent company, though it hasn’t said when. The spinoff could include some kind of initial public offering.

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