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Transactions

December 2019
Stamford, CT
has been acquired by
Mumbai, India


Background

Greenwich Associates, LLC (“Greenwich Associates” or “GA”) is a leading provider of data, analytics, benchmarks and qualitative insights that helps financial services firms worldwide measure and improve business performance. The firm offers market intelligence in the areas of commercial banking, investment management, investment banking & dealers and financial technology. The company had been approached multiple times by industry well-known players and by financial sponsors seeking to acquire or invest in the company. It had engaged a larger investment banking firm for a sale process but ultimately decided to not proceed with any parties because of the unsatisfying offerings. After that, Greenwich’s CEO Steve Busby reached out to Marlin & Associates for guidance in identifying the right partners and get a premium valuation because of Marlin’s industry reputation and expertise.



Overview

In May 2019, GA’s board decided to hire M&A to explore strategic alternatives for the business, including a potential sale of the company. M&A worked collaboratively with GA’s management team to develop materials that clearly communicated the strength of the company’s product, its positioning in the marketplace and its marquee client base. Additionally, the M&A team crafted the company’s story focused on its growth plan with new development of technology-driven products. This approach has brought many high-quality suitors to the table – both strategic and financial, offering prices exceeding management’s expectation.

Some parties involved were competitors of GA and M&A had to manage a restrictive due diligence process where it shared sensitive information differently depending on the party. One of the competitors was an Indian publicly traded company Crisil Limited (NSEI: CRISIL) (“Crisil”), an S&P Global Company, providing ratings, data, research and solutions to financial services industry. Crisil has not only submitted a highly competitive offer, but also has convinced the GA’s management team that the partnership of the two will be synergistic. GA could leverage Crisil’s data, IT resources and global scale to continue its expansion and offer more functionalities to its existing clients. Following a thorough review of potential options including multiple strategics and financial sponsors, Greenwich Associates decided to accept Crisil’s offer.

M&A Role

Marlin & Associates acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Greenwich Associates on sale to Crisil (NSEI: CRISIL) (“Crisil”), an S&P Global Company. M&A led the preparation of detailed transaction marketing materials, conducted initial discussions with interested parties, facilitated information exchange, advised on the negotiation and evaluation of alternative offers, managed preliminary and confirmatory due diligence reviews, and coordinated the preparation of final legal documents.

Press

CRISIL to acquire Greenwich Associates LLC

December 19, 2019

NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CRISIL, an S&P Global Company, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Greenwich Associates LLC ('Greenwich'), a leading provider of proprietary benchmarking data, analytics and qualitative, actionable insights that helps financial services firms worldwide measure and improve business performance. Greenwich, a Stamford, Connecticut-based company, serves over 300 of the top investment banks, corporate banks, commercial banks, asset managers and key players in the market infrastructure space globally.

The acquisition will complement CRISIL's existing portfolio of products and expand offerings to new segments across financial services including commercial banks and asset and wealth managers. The deal will accelerate CRISIL's strategy to be the leading player in the growing market of global benchmarking analytics.

Greenwich's deep expertise in 'Voice of Customer' surveys, proprietary data assets, and capabilities to source and aggregate high value private performance data will provide a new layer of insights to CRISIL's existing offerings under its Coalition division. Greenwich's portfolio of products includes MarketView, Fee Clearinghouse, ACCESS™, Focus and Explorer.

Ashu Suyash, Managing Director & CEO, CRISIL, said, "With this acquisition, CRISIL will strengthen its position as the foremost global benchmarking analytics provider for financial services, where Coalition, is a distinguished provider to corporate and investment banks worldwide. We are very excited about bringing the two trusted brands together, and Greenwich's rich data sets will augment Coalition's proprietary data, enabling unique analytics and insights."

Steven Busby, CEO, Greenwich, said, "For nearly five decades, Greenwich has pioneered voice of the customer benchmarks and analytics across the global financial services industry. We are delighted to become a part of CRISIL. Our combined data and analytics will provide clients with high value actionable insights they demand in today's competitive business environment. We are delighted that, as a part of the CRISIL group, we will collectively unleash greater growth opportunities for our clients and our people." 

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The deal is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2020. Greenwich's partners and their team of approximately 150 people globally will join CRISIL following the completion of the transaction.

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About CRISIL Limited

CRISIL is a leading, agile and innovative global analytics company driven by its mission of making markets function better. It is India's foremost provider of ratings, data, research, analytics and solutions with a strong track record of growth, culture of innovation, and global footprint.

It has delivered independent opinions, actionable insights, and efficient solutions to over 100,000 customers through businesses that operate from India, the US, the UK, Argentina, Poland, China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

It is majority owned by S&P Global Inc, a leading provider of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide.

For more information, visit www.crisil.com

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