Moody's to buy Dutch financial information provider Bureau van Dijk for $3.3 bn
16 May 2017
US credit ratings agency Moody's Corp, yesterday struck a deal to buy Dutch financial information provider Bureau van Dijk for €3 billion ($3.3 billion), in order to strengthen its risk data and analytical businesses.
Moody's plans to fund the acquisition through a combination of offshore cash and new debt financing.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval in the European Union and is expected to close late in the third quarter of 2017.
Post closing, Bureau van Dijk will be part of Moody's Analytics' Research, Data & Analytics unit.
Moody's expects approximately $45 million of annual revenue and expense synergies by 2019, and $80 million by 2021.
Bureau van Dijk is owned by Swedish private equity firm EQT, which acquired the Amsterdam-based company in 2014 from peer Charterhouse Capital Partners for a reported €1 billion.
Bureau van Dijk aggregates, standardises and distributes one of the world's most extensive private company datasets, covering more than 220 million companies.
The company has built partnerships with over 160 independent information providers, creating a platform that connects customers with data.
Bureau van Dijk's solutions support the credit analysis, investment research, tax risk, transfer pricing, compliance and third-party due diligence needs of financial institutions, corporations, professional services firms and governmental authorities worldwide.
In 2016, Bureau van Dijk generated revenue of $281 million and EBITDA of $144 million.
''Bureau van Dijk is a high growth information aggregator and distributor that positions Moody's at the center of a unique network of global risk data,'' said Raymond McDaniel, president and CEO of Moody's.
''This acquisition provides significant opportunities for Moody's Analytics to offer complementary products, create new risk solutions and extend its reach to new and evolving market segments,'' he added.
The deal comes a few months after Moody's acquired the structured finance data and analytics business of Frankfurt-based SCDM.
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