Sources say S&P’s $44 billion exclusive deal with IHS is expected to receive EU antitrust approval

Author: Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Business information provider S&P Global Inc is set to seek EU antitrust approval for its $44 billion acquisition of IHS Markit Ltd, said three people familiar with the matter, a move that will take it a step closer to becoming a data powerhouse.

The deal, announced last November, reflects consolidation in the financial information services sector as companies race to create one-stop shops to attract top customers and invest in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

S&P shares pared earlier losses and rose 1% early in the mid-session following the release of a Reuters report on the approval, while IHS shares added gains, rising 1.3% in trading.

S&P managed to respond to the European Commission’s concerns by offering to sell IHS’s Oil Price Information Services (OPIS) and PetroChem Wire to the U.S. Petroleum Pricing Agency (OPIS) and PetroChem Wire, sources say.

In August, it signed a $1.15 billion deal with News Corp, contingent on closing its acquisition of IHS Markit.

The EU’s competition enforcement authority, which is expected to complete an initial review of the IHS deal by Oct. 22, declined to comment. S&P Global and IHS declined to comment.

S&P Global ranks a distant third in annual revenue, behind Bloomberg and Refinitiv, based on data from research firm Burton-Taylor. While the acquisition of IHS Markit, the No. 8 player, wouldn’t change this ranking, it would accelerate S&P Global’s growth.

The transaction will combine S&P Global’s credit ratings, market research and benchmarks for equities and energy with IHS Markit’s fixed income benchmarks and indices, bond prices and benchmark data, as well as information on the natural resources, automotive and engineering sectors.

This will enable IHS Markit products and services to be distributed to S&P Global’s 1 million desktop users.

The UK Competition Agency is also investigating the deal and will make a decision by October 19.

Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News, competes with Platts, Argus and OPIS in providing news and information to oil markets.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, additional reporting by Niket Nishant and Anirban Sen in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Blair, Jason Neely and Jane Merriman)