In recent developments, data market giant S&P Global Inc has agreed to acquire IHS Markit Ltd in a deal which is worth $44 billion and it will be the biggest merger of the year 2020 thus facilitating the creation of a heavyweight in the increasingly competitive market in financial information.
This deal includes debt of $4.8 billion and is a sign that merger activity is increasing as breakthroughs in developing COVID-19 vaccines is improving the economic scenario. Deals and agreements touched a recorded high with transactions worth more than $1 trillion in the September quarter. The deals mostly focused on COVID-19 resilient sectors such as technology and healthcare.
Under the criteria of the agreement, each share of the IHS Markit will be exchanged by a fixed ratio of 0.2838 shares of S&P Global stock, the two companies mentioned in a statement. Once the deal is fulfilled, S&P Global shareholders will roughly own 67.75 percent of the combined company on a fully diluted basis, while 32.25 percent will be owned by IHS shareholders.
IHS holds a market value of around $36.88 billion based on the stock’s Friday’s closure with its share price up around 22 percent so far this year. This transaction is likely to face close scrutiny from competition watchdogs as the market for financial information is becoming increasingly concentrated.
