Sector developments and company hires

Information giants to combine
S&P Global and IHS Markit have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine in an all-stock transaction that values IHS Markit at an enterprise value of US$44bn, including US$4.8bn of net debt. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, each share of IHS Markit common stock will be exchanged for a fixed ratio of 0.2838 shares of S&P Global common stock. Upon completion of the transaction, current S&P Global shareholders will own approximately 67.75% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis, while IHS Markit shareholders will own approximately 32.25%.

Douglas Peterson, president and ceo of S&P Global, will serve as ceo of the combined company. Lance Uggla, chairman and ceo of IHS Markit, will stay on as a special advisor to the company for one year following closing.

The combined company's board will include the current S&P Global directors and four directors from the IHS Markit board. Richard Thornburgh, current chairman of S&P Global, will serve as chairman of the combined company. Ewout Steenbergen, evp and cfo of S&P Global, will serve as cfo of the combined company. The rest of the leadership team will comprise senior leaders from both organisations.

Following closing, the company will be headquartered in New York, with a substantial presence in key global markets across North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific. The transition and integration of the combined company will be led by executives from both S&P Global and IHS Markit.

The transaction is expected to close in 2H21, subject to customary closing conditions and the approval of shareholders of both S&P Global and IHS Markit. It is not subject to any financing conditions.

In other news…

Anchor investor triggers board replacement
Corestate Capital Holding has revealed that it has a new anchor investor, Vestigo Immobilien Investments, which owns around 9.9% of the share capital of the company. As proposed by Vestigo and to implement a strategic development of the company, all previous members of the Corestate supervisory board have resigned and been replaced by former Dexia ceo Friedrich Munsberg, former KPMG and EY partner Hermann Wagner and DekaBank board member Friedrich Oelrich. Munsberg has been named chair of the supervisory board, while Wagner has been elected as deputy chair and chair of the audit committee.