S&P Global Inc. spent most of the past decade expanding beyond its core business of rating bonds. Now, its proposed $44 billion acquisition of IHS Markit Ltd. stands to solidify its position as one of the world’s largest financial-data companies.
S&P’s push into data coincided with the rise of passive investing and quantitative trading, which have made its information even more essential to bankers, traders and investors worldwide. The planned deal would ratchet up its competition with such companies as Bloomberg LP, Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and Refinitiv Holdings Ltd.
“When you look at the breadth of who we are serving, we have a ton of competitors,” S&P Chief Executive Officer Douglas Peterson said in an interview.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021, subject to antitrust review and other conditions.
The move marks the latest step in the company’s yearslong transformation. A decade ago, the company was a conglomerate called McGraw-Hill Cos. It owned local television stations and published college textbooks, as well as stock-market indexes like the S&P 500 and its famed bond ratings.
