S&P Global and IHS Markit have revealed their plans to sell IHS Markit’s Base Chemicals business to News Corp. In addition, S&P Global will sell its CUSIP Global Services (CGS) business to FactSet Research Systems.
The official announcement noted that these moves are related to the pending merger of S&P Global and IHS Markit.
The Base Chemicals business will be acquired for $295 million by News Corp and FactSet Research Systems will buy CGS for $1.925 billion. The two deals are dependent on closing the S&P Global-IHS Markit merger.
The deal between the two companies is expected to receive aggregate net sale proceeds of $1.3 billion from these transactions. The proceeds are net of taxes and payments to CGS’s industry partner.
Douglas L. Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of S&P Global said:
The two divestures we have announced today represent an important milestone in our progress toward satisfying the required regulatory conditions to complete our merger with IHS Markit. With these agreements in place, we are well positioned to dedicate our full attention to our goals of accelerating progress, enabling innovation and serving our customers through the combination of these two world-class businesses.
Lance Uggla
Lance Uggla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IHS Markit added:
Finding a suitable buyer for these two businesses meets a key regulatory requirement for our merger. We now look forward to combining our great companies and consolidating our businesses to drive growth for our customers around the world.
S&P Global will also divest its Leveraged Commentary and Data (LCD) business, including a related family of leveraged loan indices. These divestitures are a condition for regulatory approval for the merger. The LCD business can also occur after the closing of the merger according to European Commission‘s conditions for S&P Global and IHS Markit’s merger
As part of the merger review process, the two companies already announced the divestiture of IHS Markit’s Oil Price Information Services (OPIS), Coal, Metals and Mining (CMM), and PetroChem Wire (PCW) businesses to NewsCorp in August 2021.
The merger is on track to close in the first quarter of 2022.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
