Xinhua Finance’s subsidiary Mergent to Purchase Praedea Solutions Inc.

SHANGHAI, July 14, 2006 – Xinhua Finance (TSE Mothers: 9399 and OTC: XHFNY), China's unchallenged leader in financial information and media, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Mergent, Inc. has reached an agreement to purchase 100% of the shares of Praedea Solutions Inc. (“Praedea”). Founded in 2002, Praedea develops enterprise software for automated data extraction. Praedea licenses its software product to major financial market data vendors and other financial market participants to expedite the process of data collection, making high quality data available in near real time.

The acquisition advances Xinhua Finance’s data collection strategy enabling it and its subsidiary Mergent to continue to meet global needs for near-real-time transparent and added-value financial information. Immediately following the acquisition, Praedea will change its name to Mergent Data Technology, Inc.

Jonathan Worrall CEO of Mergent Inc. stated “this acquisition, which was made after extensive research and trials, considerably enhances our ability to achieve the mission of being the premier provider of global financial data. The marriage of the latest proven technology combined with the industries leading data collection process and the most comprehensive data history available make this a truly unique offering.”

He further added “this allows Mergent to compete not only as a traditional data provider but also as a serious competitor in the market for the outsourcing of global financial data collection. Outsourcing through inexpensive labor has proven problematic as cost and retention issues continue. The application of technology to base data collection combined with Mergent’s proven historical databases allows clients to outsource the collection of commodity like data and focus their effort on value added business processes”.

Mergent, Inc., the leading provider of business and financial data on global publicly listed companies, jointed the Xinhua Finance family in July 2004, adding depth to Xinhua Finance’s ratings services with its range of research tools and data.

More Information:

Xinhua Finance

Hong Kong/Shanghai
Ms. Joy Tsang, +852 3196 3983, +852 9486 4364, +86-21-6113-5999, joy.tsang@xinhuafinance.com

Taylor Rafferty (Media/IR Contact)

Japan
Mr. James Hawrylak, +81 3 5733 2621, James.hawrylak@taylor-rafferty.com

United States
Mr. Ishviene Arora, +1 212 889 4350, ishviene.arora@taylor-rafferty.com

Europe
Mr. John Dudzinsky, +44 20 7614 2900, John.Dudzinsky@taylor-rafferty.co.uk

Notes to Editors
About Praedea Solutions, Inc.

Praedea Solutions, Inc. (“PraedeaSM”) develops and licenses universal enterprise software solutions providing real-time data extraction from financial/SEC filings and other documents. Utilizing proprietary text-mining automation, the Praedea Data Extraction PlatformTM (the “Praedea DEPTM”) automatically extracts predetermined numeric figures and text from semi-structured electronic documents, while retaining “Source LinksTM” (hyperlinks to precise locations in underlying source documents) for absolute data transparency. The Praedea DEP’s user-friendly interface and open standards development facilitate rapid and uncomplicated implementation. Based in New York, Praedea was established in 2002. The Company has approximately 30 employees located in New York and Kiev. Its executive team has over 90 years of combined experience in the text-mining, financial services and information industries and its outside directors and advisors are highly-recognized and experienced industry players.

About Xinhua Finance Limited

Xinhua Finance Limited is China's unchallenged leader in financial information and media, and is listed on the Mothers board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (symbol: 9399) (OTC ADRs: XHFNY). Bridging China's financial markets and the world, Xinhua Finance serves financial institutions, corporations and re-distributors through four focused and complementary service lines: Indices, Ratings, Financial News and Investor Relations. Founded in November 1999, the Company is headquartered in Shanghai with 20 news bureaus and offices in 19 locations across Asia, Australia, North America and Europe.

For more information, please visit www.xinhuafinance.com.