Bankrate to Buy Online Lead Aggregator

Bankrate Inc., New York, has announced an agreement to acquire Wescoco LLC (d/b/a FastFind), a San Francisco-based aggregator of Internet leads for mortgages and other financial products, for $10 million in cash.Thomas R. Evans, president and chief executive officer of Bankrate, said the company plans to leverage its Internet traffic to enhance FastFind's lead-generation platform. "The online mortgage industry represents an enormous, emerging, and addressable market," Mr. Evans said. "We believe we are strategically positioned to take advantage of the shift of spending from traditional outlets to the Internet." Bankrate also announced the acquisition of MMIS/Interest.com, a publisher of mortgage guides based in suburban Chicago, for $30 million in cash. Bankrate can be found online at http://www.bankrate.com.