Plastics, chemical consultant IHS buys research firm Markit

Consulting firm IHS Inc., which provides data analysis for sectors including the chemical and plastics industry, is acquiring London-based Markit Ltd. to bulk up its financial services.

The deal is valued at approximately US$5.5 billion. Shareholders of IHS will get about 57 per cent of the enlarged company.

Markit was founded in 2003. The company provides pricing and reference data, index and valuation services.

IHS Chief Executive Jerre Stead will become chairman and chief executive of the combined company, which will be called IHS Markit.

The merger “brings together two information-rich companies to create a powerful provider of unique business intelligence, data and analytics to a broad and complementary customer base,” Stead said in a news release.

The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions by Englewood, Colorado-based IHS. In one of its most recent, the company agreed in December to buy Canada-based vehicle data provider Carproof Corp for US$460 million to boost its automotive research business.