Nasdaq, the US tech-dominated “second” stock market, will acquire eVestment, the institutional fund industry performance database service for US$705 million (A$875 million). The deal is a move for Nasdaq to widen its information services to institutional investors.
eVestment claims to have the largest global database for both traditional and alternative strategies, including about 2,800 individual data points on 74,000 investment vehicles. The firm has more than 2,000 clients, including asset managers, consulting firms and 16 of the largest 20 pension funds
Adena Friedman, Nasdaq’s president and chief executive, said the investment management community was relying increasingly on independent data and advanced analytics to drive key business decisions, including asset allocation and investment choices.
She said: “The strategic alignment of eVestment with Nasdaq’s complementary technology and services to the global institutional investment industry, including our surveillance technology, SMARTS, our recent Analytics Hub launch, as well as our long-standing operation of the Mutual Fund Quotation Service, will further expand our buy-side relationships, accelerate our growth opportunities, and advance our objectives to deliver proprietary analytics to our clients.”
Friedman continued, “As a trusted steward of the capital markets industry, we view our partnership with eVestment as a means of strengthening Nasdaq’s support of the investment management industry through enhanced technology and service offerings. Additionally, Nasdaq’s global distribution will create opportunities to propel eVestment’s proprietary offering around the globe – creating a compelling value proposition for our clients and investors.”
Jim Minnick, eVestment co-founder and chief executive, said: “We’ve grown this business at a 13 per cent annual rate since 2013, and together, we expect to produce new and expanded opportunities for our clients by combining our proprietary capabilities with Nasdaq’s core information services offerings.”
The company was set up in 2000 and opened its first Asia Pacific office, in Sydney, in 2009. The deal, to be satisfied through a mix of debt and cash, is subject to various US regulatory approvals.
Greg Bright is publisher of Investor Strategy News (Australia)