London Stock Exchange announced that it has acquired Beyond Ratings, an independent financial services company, as part of continued efforts to invest in its information services business.
London Stock Exchange said that the deal will be beneficial to its wholly-owned FTSE Russell’s existing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) index and data offering. FTSE Russel is a British provider of stock market indices.
Waqas Samad, Group Director of Information Services, London Stock Exchange, said that the acquisition will speed up the exchange’s capability to deliver ‘research-driven multi-asset solutions’ to its global client base.
According to several media reports, the acquisition will create a significant opportunity for London Stock Exchange’s Information Services business. In turn, the business will be able to boost its multi-asset data and analytics capabilities, in addition to commercialising Beyond Ratings’ existing datasets globally.
Samad said that Beyond Ratings consist of several ESG data models developed by a highly-skilled team of ESG experts.
Rodolphe Bocquet, CEO and co-founder of Beyond Ratings said, “Beyond Ratings is delighted to be joining London Stock Exchange Group and its growing Information Services business. We look forward to working with the Group to capitalise on our ESG data, research and modelling capabilities to provide new solutions within sustainable finance on a global scale.”
The terms of the transaction are not disclosed. London Stock Exchange’s Information Services business accounts for nearly half of the total revenue, and provides information and data products. The data products include indices and benchmarks, analytics, real-time pricing data, product identification, and much more, according to media reports.
FTSE’s shares climbed nearly 1.2 percent after the deal was announced.