Experian Acquires Direct Mail Firm

In a move that vastly extends its reach into direct marketing, credit information giant Experian Inc., based in Orange, said it has bought one of the nation’s biggest direct mail companies for $246.2 million, mostly in cash. Experian, formerly the financial information business unit of TRW Inc., said the acquisition of Direct Marketing Technology Inc., based in the Chicago area, makes it the nation’s third-largest direct mail operation. The acquisition also should increase the clout of Experian’s British parent, Great Universal Stores, which received about a third of its $1.9 billion in income last year from catalog sales in Europe and South Africa.