LSEG has upped its profit forecast for a second time as the operator of the London Stock Exchange confirmed plans to take on credit data specialist Octus in a $3.5bn (£2.6bn) deal.
The FTSE 100 firm said the deal to acquire the New York-based business “significantly expands LSEG’s fixed income offering”.
“Public and private credit markets are converging,” LSEG said, adding that the tie-up would help meet “customer demand for timely, accurate and predictive intelligence, and proprietary data and analytics in this less liquid market segment.”
The deal marks a major win for British private equity group Permira, who acquired the business for just $1.3bn as recently as 2022.
It marks the biggest takeover by LSEG since the firm’s blockbuster $27bn acquisition of US data services provider Refinitiv in 2021.
The takeover comes just days after LSEG-owned trading platform Tradeweb unveiled plans to acquire electronic credit trading marketplace Trumid in a $1.8bn deal.
“Alongside the acquisition of Trumid’s innovative credit trading services and our existing scale in liquid credit, we are becoming a global leader in fixed income data and trading,” LSEG boss David Schwimmer said.
LSEG cheered an improvement in its pre-tax earnings forecast to a margin of 100-120 basis points, up from an initial guidance of 80-100 basis points, and an earlier upgrade to 100 basis points.
The firm also notched up a 9.5 per cent rise in third-quarter gross profit to £2.2bn, driven by a 16 per cent jump in income from over the counter derivatives fees.