Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch publisher, has paid $775m (€627m) for a US-based risk management specialist and plans to use the business to grow its information division, LexisNexis.

Seisint is one of the US's leading providers of risk management data and technology to legal, commercial, government and law enforcement agencies. Its products help clients extract customer information - ranging from address verification to spotting terrorist activity - from huge databases.