The Mergermarket Group (Mergermarket Ltd) is a media company specialising in corporate financial news and analysis. Through its web-based products Mergermarket, Dealreporter, Debtwire, BioPharm Insight, PaRR, Wealthmonitor, Remark, Activistmonitor and its acquisition of Infinata, Xtract Research and Inframation Group, the Mergermarket Group provides the advisory, corporate and financial communities with actionable financial intelligence, analysis and data. Mergermarket subscribers include more than 3,500 advisory firms, investment banks, law firms, hedge funds, private equity firms and corporates. The company now has over 800 staff including a 500-strong team of specialist journalists and analysts in 65 locations around the world with headquarters in London, New York and Hong Kong.
History
Mergermarket was incorporated in December 1999 by founders Caspar Hobbs, Charlie Welsh and Gawn Rowan Hamilton.
In August 2006 the company was acquired by The Financial Times Group for £101m, publisher of the Financial Times newspaper and FT.com. FT Group is a division of Pearson PLC, the international media group.
In September 2007, The Mergermarket Group acquired Infinata, an information solutions and marketing analytics provider to the global financial service, life science, and high technology industries.
In March 2010 the company acquired Xtract Research, which provides bond covenant data to help investors understand the impact of covenants on valuation.
In September 2012 the company acquired Inframation Group, a provider of information and senior-level events for the global infrastructure finance community.
In November 2013 Pearson agreed to sell Mergermarket to London private equity investor BC Partners in a transaction valuing the business intelligence and news service at £382m including debt. Based on the deal, Mergermarket was valued at 15 times its last year operating income.
On 15 January 2014, Moody's Investors Service assigned a B3 corporate family rating to the Mergermarket Group. Moody's also assigned a (P)B2 rating to the £150m first lien term loan due 2021 and US$40m Revolving Credit Facility maturing in 2019, and a (P)Caa2 rating to the £70m second lien term loan due 2022, to be issued by Mergermarket USA Inc. The outlook on all ratings is stable. This is the first time Moody's has assigned a rating to Mergermarket.
References
External links
- Company website
- mergermarket event listings
