OTC Markets – NEW YORK – OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced the launch of a new online resource for OTCQX® and OTCQB® companies seeking third-party research analyses and investment tools in collaboration with best-in-class institutional and global equity research firms ACF Equity Research, Edison, and Sidoti & Company, LLC.

The new “Research Marketplace,” available on www.otcmarkets.com, provides OTCQX and OTCQB companies a single point-of-reference when investigating equity research providers as well as a choice of firms tailored to meet their individual needs.  Equity research providers can now build a new model to unbundle research coverage from equity trading and monetize their analysts with coverage and conference services supported by corporate issuers.

“With Wall Street research increasingly favoring large companies with active trading volumes, small companies and their investors are often excluded from analyst coverage,” said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group.  “Providing smaller issuers with a wider choice of in-depth equity research providers will help broaden these companies’ exposure to investors while helping to maximize their public market visibility, valuation and liquidity.”

“ACF Equity Research is delighted to have been chosen as an independent research provider by OTC Markets Group,” said Christopher Nicholson, Managing Director of ACF.  “In today’s globalized economy, it’s vital that smaller and mid-size cap companies are able to compete at the same level as larger organizations.  Our research and consultancy supports greater liquidity, higher valuations and access to a wider pool of investors, delivering real value unbundled from equity trading and corporate finance for corporates.  It’s to be applauded that OTC Markets Group has set the platform up.”

Investors value third-party research as it provides an independent view of a company’s performance, valuation estimates, and analysis of financials, operations and management.  The addition of analyst reports and earnings estimates offered through financial databases provide key data points for today’s fundamental and quantitative investor to make informed decisions and benchmark a company.

“We are thrilled to be working with OTC Markets Group on this initiative to connect its issuers with high-quality, third-party research providers,” said Peter Molloy, CEO of Edison Group.  “Edison provides a world-renowned equity research service to nearly 500 publicly-traded companies, so we have direct visibility of the value to an issuer of ensuring its equity story is accurately represented to the entire investment community.  We look forward to providing this service to OTC Markets Group’s issuers and contributing to their success as publicly-traded companies.”

Peter Sidoti, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Sidoti & Company, LLC, said, “We are excited to be collaborating with OTC Markets Group on increasing the visibility and transparency of small- and micro-cap companies to investors.  Our high-quality, impartial, company-sponsored research coupled with our broad access to institutional investors and presence on leading financial data platforms will enable smaller companies to attract new investors and more fully realize the benefits of being a public company.”

This latest enhancement in creating a central repository of high-quality equity research firms and distributing this research coverage underscores OTC Markets Group’s continued commitment to educate investors and issuers on the importance of making transparent data more publicly available.  The Company’s effort builds on the collaboration with Morningstar launched earlier this year, which make Morningstar quantitative ratings available for all OTCQX and OTCQB companies.