Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has purchased BeatThatQuote, which bills itself as the fastest growing price comparison site in the U.K. for $62 million (£37.7 million). The site lets users compare rates and prices of a long list of primarily financial products, including loans, credit cards, utilities and insurance.
In a message on BeatThatQuote’s site, managing director John Paleomylites says his company will work with Google “to create new tools making it easier for consumers to choose the right financial products,” adding that he believes the company can “offer more transparency and better pricing information than existing online offerings.”
Google already offers some built-in tools so that searchers can compare financial products, allowing U.K. searchers to compare loan offers, for instance, and users in the U.S. to compare offers from mortgage advertisers. This appears to be Google’s first acquisition of a U.K. company since it bought speech technology firm Phonetic Arts in early December.

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