About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

FactSet to Acquire CUSIP Global Services as S&P Global Facilitates Merger with IHS Markit

Subscribe to our newsletter

The holidays brought good news for CUSIP Global Services (CGS) with FactSet making a definitive agreement to acquire the company from S&P Global in a cash deal valued at $1.925 billion. Late last year, the European Commission said S&P Global would have to divest CGS to gain regulatory approval for its planned $44 billion merger with IHS Markit.

FactSet will become the second operator of the CUSIP system, which uniquely identifies instruments and entities in capital markets, since it was set up by the American Bankers Association (ABA) in 1968 to improve operational efficiencies. CGS will be part of FactSet’s Content and Technology Solutions business, which is overseen by executive vice president Jonathan Reeve and will take on stewardship of the CUSIP system in partnership with the ABA.

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022 following completion of the S&P Global and IHS Markit merger.

CGS generates annual revenues of about $175 million with consistent revenue growth rates in the mid- to high-single digit range. It is expected to deliver robust margins and be immediately accretive to FactSet’s adjusted operating margins. The company will also receive an estimated tax benefit of about $200 million as part of the transaction.

FactSet says the acquisition will advance its open data strategy. CEO Phil Snow also indicates a greater focus on data management, saying CGS’s ‘core competency in securities identification aligns well with FactSet’s industry leading data management capabilities’.

As the ABA gets to know its new partner, president and CEO Rob Nichols comments: “Building off a strong foundation, we’re confident FactSet has the resources, experience, and innovation needed to expand CUSIP as it meets the evolving needs of market participants around the world.”

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Streamlining trading and investment processes with data standards and identifiers?

3 June 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes Financial institutions are integrating not only greater volumes of data for use across their organisation but also more varieties of data. As well, that data is being applied to more use cases than ever before, especially regulatory compliance and ESG integration....

BLOG

What a Decade of DataOps has Taught Us

By Hervé Chapron, SVP & General EMEA, Semarchy. It has been 10 years since the term DataOps was first coined. It refers to the practice of combining technology and process excellence to improve the quality, usability and, ultimately, value of data to a business. DataOps has evolved from a nascent concept to an integral component...

EVENT

Future of Capital Markets Tech Summit: Buy AND Build, London

Buy AND Build: The Future of Capital Markets Technology London on September 19th at Marriott Hotel Canary Wharf London examines the latest changes and innovations in trading technology and explores how technology is being deployed to create an edge in sell side and buy side capital markets financial institutions.

GUIDE

Regulatory Data Handbook 2024 – Twelfth Edition

Welcome to the twelfth edition of A-Team Group’s Regulatory Data Handbook, a unique and useful guide to capital markets regulation, regulatory change and the data and data management requirements of compliance. The handbook covers regulation in Europe, the UK, US and Asia-Pacific. This edition of the handbook includes a detailed review of acts, plans and...