S&P Global Buys IHS Markit in $44bn Deal

S&P Global Inc. has agreed to buy IHS Markit Ltd. for about $44bn in stock, a deal that accelerates the wave of consolidation among the finance industry’s biggest data providers.

The mega transaction, which IHS Markit CEO Lance Uggla told employees in a note that has been in the works for the past few months, highlights the growing importance of big data in financial markets that are governed by information-hungry trading algorithms.

IHS has a market value of around $36.88 billion based on the stock’s last close on Friday, a Reuters calculation showed, with its share price up around 22% so far this year.