S&P Global Acquires 451 Research, LLC

Leading global IT research and advisory firm will deepen S&P Global Market Intelligence's emerging technology expertise and offerings

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S&P Global

Dec 06, 2019, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets, announced today that it has acquired 451 Research, LLC, a privately-held research and advisory firm that provides intelligence, expertise and data covering high-growth emerging technology segments.

451 Research will be operated within S&P Global Market Intelligence, the division that provides data, essential insights, and powerful analytics to help navigate the financial markets. This acquisition will expand and strengthen S&P Global Market Intelligence's research coverage, adding differentiated expertise and intelligence with comprehensive offerings in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Information Security, Data Centers, Cloud and DevOps.

"As emerging technologies continue to remodel today's business landscape and impact our decision-making, it's important that we invest in and deepen our expertise in these growing sectors," said Martina Cheung, President of S&P Global Market Intelligence. "451 Research's comprehensive expertise in critical disruptive technologies will enable S&P Global Market Intelligence to further expand our sector relevant and differentiated data offerings while strengthening our ability to help our customers understand the digital transformation that's impacting the market today."

"We are excited to have 451 Research join the renowned team at S&P Global Market Intelligence. For 20 years, 451 Research has been prized worldwide for its essential insight into innovation, disruption, and value creation in enterprise IT markets. The proven methodologies and constant tracking of enterprise IT customer sentiment assures that 451 Research clients can anticipate and deftly navigate the accelerating evolution of technology markets. As continuing CEO and Chairman of our Group's Uptime Institute, I look forward now, as a client of 451 Research, to benefiting from an expanding array of insight and unique analytic offerings that 451 Research creates within the larger S&P Global Market Intelligence, that further serve both the financial and technology markets," said Martin McCarthy, CEO and Chairman of The 451 Group.

Prior to this transaction, 451 Research had been a part of The 451 Group. Led by McCarthy, with support from financial partners, MLR Holdings, 451 Research publishes more than 3,000 reports and data sets annually and serves leading technology vendors and service providers, innovative start-ups, technology investment bankers, VCs, and other technology market consulting and professional service firms, as well as "early adopter" enterprise companies for the past 18 years. 451 Research's staff are seasoned industry analysts and cover a variety of technology and industry segments including cloud computing, data center technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The transaction was signed and closed today and terms were not disclosed.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, which express management's current views concerning future events, trends, contingencies or results, appear at various places in this report and use words like "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "future," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "strategy," "target" and similar terms, and future or conditional tense verbs like "could," "may," "might," "should," "will" and "would." For example, management may use forward-looking statements when addressing topics such as: the outcome of contingencies; future actions by regulators; changes in the Company's business strategies and methods of generating revenue; the development and performance of the Company's services and products; the expected impact of acquisitions and dispositions; the Company's effective tax rates; and the Company's cost structure, dividend policy, cash flows or liquidity.

Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements include, among other things:

worldwide economic, political and regulatory conditions, including conditions that may result from legislative, regulatory and policy changes associated with the current U.S. administration or the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union;
the rapidly evolving regulatory environment, in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, affecting Ratings, Market Intelligence, Platts and Indices, including new and amended regulations and the Company's compliance therewith;
the Company's ability to maintain adequate physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect the security of confidential information and data, and the potential for unauthorized access to our systems or a system or network disruption that results in improper disclosure of confidential information or data, regulatory penalties and remedial costs;
our ability to make acquisitions and dispositions and successfully integrate the businesses we acquire;
the outcome of litigation, government and regulatory proceedings, investigations and inquiries;
the health of debt and equity markets, including credit quality and spreads, the level of liquidity and future debt issuances;
the demand and market for credit ratings in and across the sectors and geographies where the Company operates;
concerns in the marketplace affecting the Company's credibility or otherwise affecting market perceptions of the integrity or utility of independent credit ratings;
the effect of competitive products and pricing, including the level of success of new product developments and global expansion;
consolidation in the Company's end-customer markets;
the impact of customer cost-cutting pressures, including in the financial services industry and commodities markets;
a decline in the demand for credit risk management tools by financial institutions;
the level of merger and acquisition activity in the United States and abroad;
the volatility of the energy marketplace and the health of the commodities markets;
our ability to attract, incentivize and retain key employees;
our ability to adjust to changes in European and United Kingdom markets as the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, and the impact of the United Kingdom's departure on our credit rating activities and other European and United Kingdom offerings;
the Company's ability to successfully recover should it experience a disaster or other business continuity problem from a hurricane, flood, earthquake, terrorist attack, pandemic, security breach, cyber-attack, power loss, telecommunications failure or other natural or man-made event;
changes in applicable tax or accounting requirements, including the impact of recent tax reform in the U.S.;
the level of the Company's future cash flows and capital investments;
the impact on the Company's revenue and net income caused by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and
the Company's exposure to potential criminal sanctions or civil penalties if it fails to comply with foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that are applicable in the domestic and international jurisdictions in which it operates, including sanctions laws relating to countries such as Iran, Russia, Sudan and Syria, anti-corruption laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, and local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials, as well as import and export restrictions.

The factors noted above are not exhaustive. The Company and its subsidiaries operate in a dynamic business environment in which new risks emerge frequently. Accordingly, the Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which it is made, except as required by applicable law. Further information about the Company's businesses, including information about factors that could materially affect its results of operations and financial condition, is contained in the Company's filings with the SEC, including Item 1a, Risk Factors, in the Annual Report on Form 10-K.

About S&P Global
S&P Global is the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets, offering deep data and insights on critical business factors including ESG. The Company's divisions include S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P Global Platts. S&P Global has approximately 21,000 employees in 35 countries. For more information visit www.spglobal.com.

About S&P Global Market Intelligence
At S&P Global Market Intelligence, we know that not all information is important—some of it is vital. We integrate financial and industry data, research and news into tools that help clients track performance, generate alpha, identify investment ideas, understand competitive and industry dynamics, perform valuations and assess credit risk. Investment professionals, government agencies, corporations and universities globally can gain the intelligence essential to making business and financial decisions with conviction.

S&P Global Market Intelligence is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). For more information, visit www.spglobal.com.

About The 451 Group
The 451 Group is a leading information technology research and IT advisory and certification company, previously consisting of two divisions, 451 Research and Uptime Institute, the Global Digital Infrastructure and Data Center Authority. Post the sale of 451 Research, the Group's sole focus will be the continued global expansion of Uptime Institute. Uptime Institute has staff in 22 countries, and is known globally for its proprietary Tier Classification system and its unique Tier Standards for digital infrastructure that have been downloaded tens of thousands of times annually from almost every country on the planet. It has helped owners and operators discipline tens of billions of dollars of data center and digital infrastructure investments for more than a quarter century. Uptime Institute has awarded over 1,500 data center design, construction and operations certifications, accredited over 5,000 highly specialized technical experts and provided advisory services in over 95 countries.

SOURCE S&P Global