ICIS and CBI China Form Joint Venture to Create China's Leading Commodity Market Information Company

ICIS and CBI China Form Joint Venture to Create China's Leading Commodity Market Information Company

August 15, 2007

    LONDON and SHANGHAI, China, Aug. 15 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/
-- ICIS, http://www.icis.com/Home/Default.aspx, the
commodity market information business of Reed Business
Information UK Ltd, and CBI China Ltd
http://www.cbichina.com/ , China's domestic commodity
market information leader, have formed a joint venture to
create China's most powerful commodity market information
company.

    ICIS and CBI China have announced this week that they
formed a joint venture to deliver information on Chinese
markets to a global audience involved in or monitoring
commodities in this region. At the same time, the new
company will offer global market intelligence to their
Chinese customers.  As part of this joint venture RBI has
taken an equity stake in CBI.

    ICIS Publishing Director Christopher Flook said:
"Chinese demand is driving world commodity markets. We
hope that ICIS-CBI can facilitate that trade by delivering
comprehensive international market data to local companies,
and unparalleled China market information to international
players. Our joint venture will encompass detailed coverage
of oil products, gas and over 200 petrochemical markets in
both English and Chinese, by email, web and SMS."

    "Similarly, Chinese customers are calling out for
accurate and, above all, trusted information on
international commodity markets. We are delighted to offer
them the most reliable global market intelligence from
ICIS, which complements the information they have come to
rely upon from CBI," added Patrick Zhang, CBI China
Chief Executive Officer.

    The international supremacy of ICIS combined with CBI's
leadership position in domestic chemical and metals markets,
creates China's most powerful commodity market information
company.

    "The alliance bolsters ICIS' position as the
world's leading provider of market information on
petrochemical markets", said Jim Muttram, RBI UK
Managing Director. "It also provides RBI with a
fantastic base upon which we can build our business in
China".

    Notes to Editors:

    ICIS

    ICIS, the world's leading information provider for the
chemical and oil industry, is part of Reed Business
Information (RBI), a division of Reed Business and a member
of Reed Elsevier plc (525), (UK:REL) (NYSE:RUK) (NL:45443)
the world's leading publisher and information provider. For
more information on ICIS visit http://www.icis.com

    CBI China

    CBI CHINA is the largest comprehensive source for
information on China's major commodity markets and
industries such as petrochemicals, steel, oil and gas,
non-ferrous metals, pulp and paper. With its experience and
vast reach throughout China, CBI has developed a unique
information network and business model for tracking
commodity markets. For more information on CBI China visit
http://www.cbichina.com






    For further information, please contact:

     Tim Haigh,
     ICIS
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]