ION Investment Group has agreed to purchase a majority interest in financial information provider Acuris from BC Partners and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.
Image: ION Investment will acquire majority stake in financial information provider Acuris. Photo: courtesy of Robert-Owen-Wahl/Pixabay.
BC Partners and Acuris management will retain minority ownership through reinvesting in the company.
Acuris chairman and BC Partners partner Nikos Stathopoulos said: “When we invested in Acuris in 2014, we saw an opportunity to accelerate its growth and to build a strong franchise, in partnership with Hamilton and the management team.
“We invested significantly in Acuris’ technology platform, expanded geographically, launched new products, content and data sets and executed nine accretive acquisitions, which have allowed us to create new product divisions.”
Established in 2000, Acuris offers financial intelligence, data and analytics services to the major advisory firms, investment banks, law firms, hedge funds, private equity firms and corporates.
The company’s product portfolio is spread across six major financial areas such as fixed income, transactions, equities, compliance, infrastructure and research.
The financial information provider said its products will help users to spot new business opportunities, increase their revenues and keep several steps ahead of the competition.
With around 1,500 employees in 66 different locations across the globe, the firm serves a large and diversified base of investor, advisory and corporate clients.
The company’s differentiated content and products, including Mergermarket, Debtwire and others, are said to be embedded in the workflow of more than 115,000 daily users and nearly 5,000 subscribing firms.
ION CEO and founder Andrea Pignataro said: “Acuris’ leading position in financial intelligence, data and analytics is highly complementary to ION’s business. Together, ION and Acuris will continue to deliver innovative, differentiated intelligence and solutions to financial institutions and corporations.”
UBS Investment Bank served as exclusive financial advisor to ION, while J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors to Acuris on the deal.
BC Partners is a major international investment firm with more than €25bn of committed capital in private equity, private credit and real estate.
Through its investments, ION Investment Group offers data, analytics and mission-critical trading and workflow solutions to financial institutions, central banks, governments and corporates.