According to those familiar with the matter, the parties are hoping to announce completing the deal later today.
US financial services giant Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (S&P Global) may acquire London-based data provider IHS Markit Ltd for $44 billion. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal would be the largest merger of this year. If combined, the two companies would have a common market value of about $13 billion.
Neither S&P Global nor IHS Markit commented on the news. According to those familiar with the matter, the parties are hoping to announce completing the deal later today. However, there is still a little likelihood of falling apart.
About S&P Global
Founded in 1888, S&P Global engages in the provision of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide. For over 160 years, S&P Global has been turning information into insights and providing essential intelligence that accelerates progress. The company delivers data, research, credit ratings, benchmarks, and ESG solutions that governments, companies, and individuals depend on to make decisions with conviction.
S&P Global operates through the following segments: Ratings, Market Intelligence, Platts, and Indices. S&P Global Market Intelligence provides multi-asset class and real-time data, research, news, and analytics. It encompasses 99% of worldwide capital markets and analyses more than 135 billion information units per year.
In the third quarter of 2020, S&P’s revenue rose 9.3% to $1.846 billion. The company benefited a lot from bond issuance. Besides, it more or less recovered from the crisis that started in 2011 when S&P was spun out of the McGraw Hill publishing conglomerate.
About IHS Markit
IHS Markit is a relatively new company that has been a leading source of information and insight in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape since 2016. Established as a merger of IHS Inc. and Markit Ltd., it has more than 50,000 customers in over 140 countries. Its team includes more than 5,000 analysts, data scientists, financial experts, and industry specialists.
Since its foundation, IHS Markit has made a number of acquisitions. In 2017, it acquired automotive Mastermind Inc., a provider of predictive analytics and marketing automation for the automotive industry, and Macroeconomic Advisers, an independent research firm forecasting the US economy. In 2018, IHS Markit purchased Ipreo, software solutions and data provider in global capital markets. Last year, it acquired Novation Analytics, a specialist provider of software solutions, data analysis, and advisory services. On May 1, 2020, it bought Catena Technologies Pte Ltd, a global regulatory trade reporting firm based in Singapore.
At the moment, IHS Markit has a market value of about $37 billion.
