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

Stop Press: General Atlantic Buys ‘Significant’ Stake in Bank-Owned Markit

Subscribe to our newsletter

Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm General Atlantic has acquired a “significant” minority stake in bank-owned pricing and valuations supplier Markit in return for a “substantial equity investment” in the company. While the size of the stake wasn’t disclosed, it’s significant enough to warrant a board seat for General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford.

The General Atlantic investment will be used “to assist Markit actively in developing its growth strategy further and executing value-creating acquisitions.”

Markit’s ownership structure has been subject to market speculation since the US Department of Justice investigation opened an investigation into its business practices last year, with observers wondering whether the probe may incite bank owners to distance themselves from the highly successful data vendor.

The investment appears to dilute the holdings of the group of financial institutions that owns Markit, which is believed to include investment banks Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort/Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, TD Securities, and UBS, as well as three buy-side firms.

It isn’t clear whether the sale to General Atlantic signals an appetite for further divestment for the group. Another major bank-operated entity, the Turquoise multilateral trading facility, has sold a 60% stake to the London Stock Exchange in a sign that banks may be seeking to reduce their investments in non-core business.

For its part, General Atlantic is a growth equity firm that combines a collaborative global approach with a long-term investment horizon. It manages approximately $15 billion in capital and has more than 75 investment professionals based in Greenwich, New York, Palo Alto, London, Duesseldorf, Hong Kong, Beijing, Mumbai and Sao Paulo.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: In data we trust – How to ensure high quality data to power AI

Artificial intelligence is increasingly powering financial institutions’ processes and workflows, encompassing all parts of the enterprise from front-office to the back-office. As organisations seek to gain a competitive edge, they are trialling the technology in variety of ways to streamline and empower multiple use cases. Some are further than others along the path to achieving...

BLOG

Bloomberg Helps Investors Overcome Syndicated Loans Data Visibility Challenge

From the outside, syndicated loans can look like a data black hole. Capital goes into them, but very little information on the performance of those investments comes out. That may be about to change. As investors diversify their portfolios to hedge against volatility amid tense markets, asset classes once considered too exotic for generalists have...

EVENT

Data Management Summit New York City

Now in its 15th year the Data Management Summit NYC brings together the North American data management community to explore how data strategy is evolving to drive business outcomes and speed to market in changing times.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...