In order to give its customers more business information news from Scandinavia, Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, LexisNexis has agreed a partnership with information specialist Esmerk to provide daily updates of the regions.

The move will mean that LexisNexis users will now receive regular English language abstracts of news from local sources. The agreement also reflects the increasing coverage given to regions such as the post Soviet States in the national UK broadsheets in the last decade. An increase of 47.7 percent between 1997 and 2007.

Commenting on the agreement Bob De Laney, Director News and Business, LexisNexis UK said “The Esmerk content complements our existing coverage of these countries, such as leading global coverage from EIU, Datamonitor and Business Monitor International, to enhance our overall emerging market and global news coverage to meet growing customer demand for news in these regions.”

The deal is especially significant for Esmerk as it is the largest licensing agreement the company has entered into to date. Derek Cox, Group MD of Esmerk said, “With more than 2,500 stories from Northern Europe and the former Soviet Republics available each week, customers can stay on top of the key issues affecting their businesses”.