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US private equity firm Francisco Partners has agreed to buy financial data provider Macrobond for around 700 million euros. This is the latest deal in a field that has attracted billions of dollars from investors in recent years.
Francisco Partners will buy the business from rival private equity firm Nordic Capital, people familiar with the matter said. The US-based firm beat out competition from other private equity groups and strategic buyers.
Macrobond was founded in Sweden in 2008 and provides financial data and technology services to more than 800 banks and asset managers, according to its website.
Nordic Capital has made nearly six times more profit since it first backed macrobonds in 2018, providing investors with the typically predictable subscription-based returns that financial data providers earn. is being pulled.
Over the past 18 months, financial data providers Reorg and Leverled Commentary and Data have both made huge deals.
Acquisition group Permira last August acquired a majority stake in Reorg, which valued the bad debt and bankruptcy information firm at about $1.3 billion.
This came months after Data Group’s Morningstar acquired Leveraged Commentary & Data, which reports debt-lending deals from S&P, in a deal worth up to $650 million.
Nordic Capital acquired Macrobond with the intention of helping it expand its market position.
“We have invested heavily in the technology of our business, with a focus on building our own datasets and differentiating ourselves from our competitors,” said Emil Anderson, partner at Nordic Capital. increase.
Nordic Capital also helped push the company into new markets in Asia and North America. Macrobond employs 230 of his people in her six offices in Europe, Asia and North America.
Private equity groups are pulling out of investments as they face pressure to return capital to institutional funds backed by the broader buyout industry.
The macrobond sale is also unusual for an asset sale between private equity groups. The volume of such transactions has plummeted in Europe this year as market turmoil has made asset valuations more difficult and rising interest rates have made lending transactions more costly.
Since its founding in 1989, Stockholm-based Nordic Capital has put €22 billion into more than 130 investments, including billions in technology and payments companies. The latest fund raised 9 billion euros.
The macrobond transaction is expected to be completed by the end of August.
