London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has entered into a new agreement with Mergent Inc., acquiring 100% of the group’s share capital to help form a new unit of LSEG’s Information Services Division, according to a LSEG filing.
Currently, LSEG’s Information Services Division provides a wide array of information and data products, which includes indexes and benchmarks, real time pricing data, product identification, reporting, and reconciliation services.
The addition of Mergent’s business is important as it will help reinforce an existing suite of data products such as SEDOL, UnaVista, and RNS, among others. The completion of the acquisition is slated for January 31, 2017, pending specific regulatory changes in the United States.
For its part, Mergent Inc. is a provider of business and financial information for both public and private companies globally. The group boasts an extensive data collection service suite, offering myriad cloud-based applications, desktop Analytics , and print products.
Index Offering Looking to Get a Boost
Another key driver of the acquisition of Mergent is the aim of supporting and growing LSEG’s existing FTSE Russell’s core index offering, thereby helping offer underlying data and analytics for the creation of a plethora of indexes. Following the acquisition, LSEG and FTSE Russell will also aim to augment and better calibrate Mergent’s activities to its already growing client base.
According to Mark Makepeace, Group Director of Information Services and CEO of FTSE Russell, in a recent statement on the deal: “The acquisition of Mergent supports the continuing strong growth of FTSE Russell and LSEG’s data services. Mergent will broaden our range of data services, research and analytics to meet the increasing demands of our clients for benchmarks and related data and analytic services.”
“Mergent is delighted to become part of FTSE Russell and the wider London Stock Exchange Group. Mergent has a long history of developing innovative new products for its clients, delivering comprehensive financial data on public and private companies around the world. The transaction provides Mergent with a fantastic opportunity to develop our global product offering as part of a leading markets infrastructure group,” added Jonathan Worrall, CEO of Mergent Inc. in an accompanying statement.
The deal is the first at LSEG since the ongoing passage of its landmark merger with Deutsche Borse – currently the merger has yet to formally transpire as it looks to move past regulatory hurdles in the EU.
