Overview:
On 19 December 2019, CRISIL announced that it will acquire Greenwich Associates, a leading provider of proprietary benchmarking data, analytics and qualitative, actionable insights for $40m.
The deal complements CRISIL’s existing portfolio of products and expands offerings to new segments across financial services, including commercial banks and asset and wealth managers. The transaction will be entirely funded through internal accruals.
Greenwich’s partners and their team of 150 people globally will join CRISIL following the completion of the transaction.
About CRISIL:
CRISIL is a leading, agile and innovative global analytics company driven by its mission of making markets function better. It is India’s foremost provider of ratings, data, research, analytics and solutions with a strong track record of growth, culture of innovation and global footprint.
It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and is majority owned by S&P Global, a leading provider of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide.
About Greenwich Associates:
Greenwich Associates serves over 300 of the top investment banks, corporate banks, commercial banks, asset managers and key players in the market infrastructure space globally. It provides qualitative and actionable insights to these firms to measure and improve business performance.
It is headquartered in Stamford, CT with additional office in California, London, Tokyo, Toronto and Singapore. The company employs 150 people globally.
Transaction Rationale:
The deal will accelerate CRISIL’s strategy to become the leading player in the growing market of global benchmarking analytics.
Greenwich’s deep expertise in ‘Voice of Customer’ surveys, proprietary data assets, and capabilities to source and aggregate high-value private performance data will provide a new layer of insights to CRISIL’s existing offerings.
In Jun-12, CRISIL bought Coalition, a UK based analytics firms which provides services to mainly corporate and investment banks. Greenwich’s larger client base of over 300 firms provides strength to CRISIL’s analytical play and client value proposition while providing an excellent opportunity to cross-sell.
Coalition was bought for $44.5m at an EV / Sales multiple of 3.6x. Greenwich is valued at $40m implying an EV / Sales multiple of 0.8x.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The deal is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2020.
The Chesapeake Group was not the advisor in this transaction.