London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG) today announced that it has agreed to acquire Octus, a leading provider of credit intelligence, data and workflows, for a cash consideration of $3.535 billion from funds advised by Permira, and Octus’ management, including its founder, Kent Collier.

Earlier in October, LSEG confirmed it was in talks with Permira about the possible acquisition.

The acquisition of Octus will transform LSEG’s presence in credit and private market data, creating a leading proposition in these high-growth areas. Combining Octus’ capabilities with LSEG’s fixed income data, analytics and distribution means customers will benefit from integrated solutions and intelligence across public and private credit enabling them to source deals, assess risk and manage their portfolios through LSEG’s platform.

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to LSEG’s Data & Analytics organic revenue growth, and additive to LSEG’s guidance for Group organic subscription revenue growth of around 7% in 2027. Due to Octus’ strong margin profile and operating leverage, there is no change to LSEG’s medium-term guidance for underlying EBITDA margin to increase by a cumulative c. 150 basis points 2027-2029 from the 2026 baseline. The transaction will be neutral to Adjusted EPS in the first full year after completion, and accretive thereafter.

The acquisition will be financed by external debt.

Allowing for forecast cash flow, the completion of the current £3 billion share buyback programme by February 2027, the completions of the Octus and Trumid acquisitions, and capacity for further share buybacks of £1-1.5 billion, LSEG expects leverage at the end of 2027 to be around the upper end of the target range of 1.5-2.5x, before returning to the middle of the range by the end of 2028.

The transaction is expected to close in H1 2027, subject to regulatory approval.

Upon completion, Octus will be part of LSEG’s Data & Analytics division, with Kent Collier, Founder and CEO of Octus continuing to run the Octus businesses, reporting to Gianluca Biagini and Ron Lefferts, Co-Heads of Data & Analytics.

David Schwimmer, CEO, LSEG, said:

“Combining Octus’ leading proprietary data and intelligence with LSEG’s data and analytics business creates a powerful offering for our customers, and further accelerates our growth. Acquiring Octus enables LSEG to deliver best-in-class credit data, intelligence and workflows, across the liquidity spectrum, to a broader range of customers. LSEG’s existing data and analytics capabilities, alongside the acquisition of Trumid announced by Tradeweb and now the acquisition of Octus, position LSEG as a global leader in fixed income to partner with our customers throughout the trade lifecycle. I look forward to partnering with Kent and the team at Octus to continue to drive future growth.”

Kent Collier, CEO, Octus, said:

“I’m excited by the prospect and opportunity of Octus becoming part of LSEG. Octus’ customer-first mindset and drive to deliver the absolute best products to our clients is a natural cultural fit with LSEG. Joining LSEG will pair our data, intelligence and workflows with global distribution and fixed income depth: a combination that provides tremendous opportunity for further growth and expansion.”