BC sells Acuris to Ion

Kenny Wastell and Greg Gille
13 May 2019

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BC Partners and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC have agreed to sell Acuris, the parent company of Unquote, to Ireland-based financial technology business Ion Group.

Unquote understands that the £1.35bn deal valuation figure reported by the Financial Times is broadly accurate. Acuris generated EBITDA of £75m in 2018.

The deal is expected to complete before the end of Q3 2019.

UBS Investment Bank, which acted as financial adviser to Ion, committed financing to support the transaction. The debt package amounted to around $975m, with syndication due to begin shortly.

The development comes 22 months after BC sold a 30% stake in Acuris to GIC, following which BC retained a stake of more than 60% in the business.

A spokesperson for BC declined to comment on the returns generated from the sale when approached for comment by Unquote. The GP and Acuris management will reinvest for a minority stake in the group as part of the deal. BC will be reinvesting via BC European Capital X, whereas the original investment was done via its previous vehicle.

Ion initially secured a 100% stake in the newco, with BC and management reinvesting subsequently to secure their own minority stakes.

The transaction brings to an end a sale process that was formally launched in January 2019, according to an earlier report by Bloomberg, while Reuters reported in November 2018 that the launch of an auction process was expected in early 2019.

A number of trade buyers and financial sponsors are reported to have been involved in the bidding process for Acuris. The Financial Times reported in March that News Corp and Axel Springer had entered the bidding for the company. Other potential buyers that reportedly expressed an interest or prepared bids included S&P Global, Moody's and Fitch, in addition to private equity houses including Advent International, EQT Partners, Hellman & Friedman and KKR. With Acuris being marketed from the off as a natural fit for strategics, PE players appeared reluctant to put in hefty bids, according to a source close to the situation.

Ion is a financial software and data business comprised of three divisions: Ion Markets, Ion Treasury and Ion Commodities. The business owns a majority stake in capital market data provider Dealogic.

There are no immediate plans to merge Acuris with other Ion businesses, Unquote understands – the former will remain a standalone entity, enabling Ion to enter the content space in addition to its existing data-centric offerings. The business will nevertheless look to benefit from synergies between Acuris and the other Ion divisions, notably on the commercial side.

Previous funding
BC acquired Acuris (then known as Mergermarket Group) from Pearson Group in December 2013 for £382m. The GP then sold a 30% stake in the group to GIC in 2017.

Acuris has made a number of bolt-ons since it first received backing from BC. The group bought Perfect Information and The Law Report Group in 2014, Unquote, AVCJ and C6 Intelligence in 2015, Creditflux in 2016, TIM Group in 2017, SparkSpread in 2018 and Blackpeak in March 2019.

This heavy emphasis on bolt-ons is likely to subside significantly following the acquisition by Ion, Unquote understands.

The company, which rebranded from Mergermarket Group in July 2017, has also invested in product development and its IT infrastructure, in addition to restructuring its brand portfolio into six divisions: fixed income, transactions, infrastructure, risk and compliance, equities and research.

Company
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in London, Acuris is a provider of business analysis, news and proprietary data products. The group has a headcount of around 1,500 across 66 locations.

People
BC Partners – Nikos Stathopoulos (partner).
Acuris – Hamilton Matthews (CEO).
Ion Investment Group – Andrea Pignataro (CEO).

Advisers
Acquirer – UBS Investment Bank (M&A).
Vendor – JP Morgan (corporate finance); Goldman Sachs (corporate finance).