News

BC Partners said May 13 that it sold a majority of Acuris to ION Investment Group. Financial terms weren’t announced although press reports pegged the sale at more than 1.35 billion pounds. GIC is also selling its stake. Acuris is a financial media and data firm. ION is backed by Carlyle Group.

PRESS RELEASE

BC Partners sells majority stake in Acuris to ION Investment Group

NEW YORK – May 13, 2019 – Funds advised by BC Partners (“BC Partners”) announced the sale of a majority stake in Acuris, a global provider of proprietary financial intelligence, data and analytics, to ION Investment Group (“ION”). ION will acquire a controlling stake in the company from BC Partners and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. BC Partners and Acuris management are reinvesting and will retain minority ownership.

With nearly 1,500 employees in 66 different locations worldwide, Acuris is a leading global financial information provider, with a large and diversified base of investor, advisory and corporate clients. It provides proprietary insights and analytics across six key financial areas: fixed income, transactions, equities, compliance, infrastructure and research. Acuris’ differentiated content and products, including Mergermarket, Debtwire and several others, are deeply embedded in the workflow of over 115,000 daily users and nearly 5,000 subscribing firms.

Nikos Stathopoulos, Partner at BC Partners and Chairman of Acuris, said, “When we invested in Acuris in 2014, we saw an opportunity to accelerate its growth and to build a strong franchise, in partnership with Hamilton and the management team. We invested significantly in Acuris’ technology platform, expanded geographically, launched new products, content and data sets and executed nine accretive acquisitions, which have allowed us to create new product divisions. We’re proud of the way Acuris has developed over the last five years into a leader in global financial intelligence, data and analytics, and see significant potential for further value creation. ION’s complementary capabilities, technologies and customers make it an ideal partner to support the next stage of Acuris’ growth.”

Hamilton Matthews, CEO of Acuris, said, “We are excited to partner with ION and will benefit from the strength of their platforms and their network of relationships with financial institutions and corporations. On behalf of my firm and my team, I extend our gratitude and appreciation to Nikos and BC Partners for their continued support and guidance and we look forward to partnering with ION and BC Partners as we embark on our next phase of growth.”

Andrea Pignataro, ION’s CEO and Founder said “Acuris’ leading position in financial intelligence, data and analytics is highly complementary to ION’s business. Together, ION and Acuris will continue to deliver innovative, differentiated intelligence and solutions to financial institutions and corporations. We are looking forward to partnering with BC Partners to support the company’s growth and development.”
UBS Investment Bank acted as exclusive financial advisor to ION and provided committed financing in support of the transaction. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors to Acuris on the transaction.

*****

About BC Partners
BC Partners is a leading international investment firm with over €25 billion of committed capital in private equity, private credit and real estate. Established in 1986, BC Partners has played an active role in developing the European buy-out market for three decades. Today, BC Partners executives operate across markets as an integrated team through the firm’s offices in North America and Europe. Since inception, BC Partners Private Equity has completed 108 private equity investments in companies with a total enterprise value of €135 billion and is currently investing its tenth private equity fund. For more information, please visit www.bcpartners.com.

About Acuris
Founded in 2000, Acuris provides proprietary, actionable intelligence, data and analytics to the world’s principal advisory firms, investment banks, law firms, hedge funds, private equity firms and corporates. Acuris owns a portfolio of mission-critical products spanning six key financial areas including fixed income, transactions, equities, compliance, infrastructure and research. Acuris is a trusted partner for its clients with products deeply embedded in subscriber workflows, enabling users to spot new business opportunities, increase their revenues and keep several steps ahead of the competition. For more information, visit www.acuris.com.

About ION Investment Group
ION Investment Group is a holding company that, through its investments, provides data, analytics and mission-critical trading and workflow solutions to financial institutions, central banks, governments and corporates. For more information, visit www.iongroup.com.