- S&P Global is merging with IHS Markit in a $44 billion all-stock deal.
- The companies announced Monday, forging a financial data powerhouse in the biggest corporate deal of 2020.
- The combined company will be headquartered in New York and led by S&P Global’s president and chief executive, Douglas Peterson.
- IHS Markit’s chairman and chief executive, Lance Uggla, will serve as a special adviser for one year after the deal closes in the second half of 2021.
- S&P Global Chairman Richard Thornburgh will retain that role in the new company.
A recent news article published in the Washington Post written by Hannah Denham reveals that S&P Global is merging with IHS Markit in a $44 billion all-stock deal.
A short bio about S&P Global
New York-based S&P Global, which traces its roots to railroad investment in 1860 and became a stand-alone company in 2011, is known for its credit ratings and data for international capital and commodity markets. It has a market cap of nearly $84 billion. London-based IHS Markit, formed in 2016 through another merger, tracks financial market data and is worth $39.5 billion.
Strategic decision
“We view the deal as a bet on sector deep data as well as a strategic decision to further embed itself in customer workflows,” Bhatia wrote in the note. “Despite the size of the deal, we don’t see a ton of regulatory risk from an antitrust perspective.”
A lot of technologies under one umbrella
The deal brings a number of technologies under one umbrella, such as software developer Kensho, which S&P Global acquired in 2018, and IHS Markit Data Lake, a massive industry data set for business insights, to serve a global customer base.
Unanimous approval of the deal
The boards of directors for both companies unanimously approved the deal, which includes $4.8 billion in debt, the release said. Uggla told staff in an internal memo that negotiations had been in the works for several months, Reuters reported.
The deal requires the approval of antitrust regulators and both companies’ shareholders, S&P Global said in a release.
The company shares and status
Each share of IHS Markit common stock will be exchanged for a fixed ratio of 0.2838 shares of S&P Global common stock.
Once the sale is complete, S&P Global shareholders will own about 67.75 percent of the company, and IHS Markit shareholders will own 32.25 percent.
S&P Global Shares
S&P Global closed Monday at $351.78 a share, up nearly 3 percent, while IHS Markit surged 7.4 percent to $99.46. Both trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Source: Washington Post
