Key Takeaways
- • LSEG agreed to acquire Octus, a credit intelligence, data, analytics and workflow provider, for $3.535 billion in cash from funds advised by Permira and Octus management including founder and CEO Kent Collier.
- • Octus is expected to generate more than $300 million in revenue in 2026, with strong double-digit revenue growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 40%.
- • The deal expands LSEG's presence in private, illiquid and distressed credit and gives it a stronger foothold with hedge funds and alternative investment managers.
- • LSEG expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to organic revenue growth in Data & Analytics, neutral to adjusted EPS in the first full year after completion, and accretive thereafter; it will be financed with external debt.
- • The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval.
Summary
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has agreed to acquire Octus, a provider of credit intelligence, data, analytics and workflow solutions, for $3.535 billion in cash. The purchase is being made from funds advised by Permira and from Octus' management, including founder and CEO Kent Collier. According to the announcement, the acquisition is intended to significantly broaden LSEG's position across public and private credit markets by combining Octus' proprietary credit intelligence and workflow technology with LSEG's fixed income data, analytics and global distribution capabilities.
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York, Octus serves hedge funds, alternative asset managers, investment banks, law firms and financial advisory firms operating in private, illiquid and distressed credit markets. The company employs more than 900 professionals, serves approximately 750 customers and has more than 40,000 individual users worldwide. It sources hard-to-access documentation such as credit agreements, debt covenants and transaction terms and converts it into structured, searchable data. Users access its content through a proprietary platform, a Model Context Protocol (MCP) connector and AI-enabled workflows. Octus is expected to generate more than $300 million in revenue in 2026, with strong double-digit growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 40%, and has maintained double-digit compound annual revenue growth since 2022.
LSEG plans to integrate Octus with International Financing Review, Yield Book, Loan Pricing Corporation, its evaluated pricing and corporate actions services, LSEG Workspace, Pricing and Reference Services and Tradeweb. The company said the combination will give customers more consistent credit data, valuation tools and portfolio management capabilities across fragmented public and private markets. LSEG cited an estimated $3.5 trillion private credit industry and a private markets data, workflow and access market of roughly $7 billion to $9 billion, which it expects to grow at a double-digit rate. The deal also complements Tradeweb's planned acquisition of Trumid.
On completion, Octus will become part of LSEG's Data & Analytics division, with Collier continuing to lead the business and reporting to Gianluca Biagini and Ron Lefferts, Co-Heads of Data & Analytics. LSEG expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to organic revenue growth in Data & Analytics and to contribute to its targeted organic subscription revenue growth of approximately 7% in 2027. LSEG also said its medium-term guidance for underlying EBITDA margin expansion of roughly 150 basis points between 2027 and 2029 is unchanged. Leverage is expected near the upper end of its 1.5 to 2.5 times target range at the end of 2027, returning toward the middle of that range by the end of 2028. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval. Morgan Stanley & Co. International was lead financial adviser to LSEG, with Barclays Capital as an additional adviser; Evercore and Goldman Sachs advised Octus' shareholders.
CEO David Schwimmer said the deal combines Octus' data and intelligence with LSEG's data and analytics business to deliver best-in-class credit data, intelligence and workflows across the liquidity spectrum, further positioning LSEG as a global leader in fixed income. Collier said Octus' customer-first approach is a natural cultural fit with LSEG and that the combination offers significant opportunity for growth.
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York, Octus serves hedge funds, alternative asset managers, investment banks, law firms and financial advisory firms operating in private, illiquid and distressed credit markets. The company employs more than 900 professionals, serves approximately 750 customers and has more than 40,000 individual users worldwide. It sources hard-to-access documentation such as credit agreements, debt covenants and transaction terms and converts it into structured, searchable data. Users access its content through a proprietary platform, a Model Context Protocol (MCP) connector and AI-enabled workflows. Octus is expected to generate more than $300 million in revenue in 2026, with strong double-digit growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 40%, and has maintained double-digit compound annual revenue growth since 2022.
LSEG plans to integrate Octus with International Financing Review, Yield Book, Loan Pricing Corporation, its evaluated pricing and corporate actions services, LSEG Workspace, Pricing and Reference Services and Tradeweb. The company said the combination will give customers more consistent credit data, valuation tools and portfolio management capabilities across fragmented public and private markets. LSEG cited an estimated $3.5 trillion private credit industry and a private markets data, workflow and access market of roughly $7 billion to $9 billion, which it expects to grow at a double-digit rate. The deal also complements Tradeweb's planned acquisition of Trumid.
On completion, Octus will become part of LSEG's Data & Analytics division, with Collier continuing to lead the business and reporting to Gianluca Biagini and Ron Lefferts, Co-Heads of Data & Analytics. LSEG expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to organic revenue growth in Data & Analytics and to contribute to its targeted organic subscription revenue growth of approximately 7% in 2027. LSEG also said its medium-term guidance for underlying EBITDA margin expansion of roughly 150 basis points between 2027 and 2029 is unchanged. Leverage is expected near the upper end of its 1.5 to 2.5 times target range at the end of 2027, returning toward the middle of that range by the end of 2028. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval. Morgan Stanley & Co. International was lead financial adviser to LSEG, with Barclays Capital as an additional adviser; Evercore and Goldman Sachs advised Octus' shareholders.
CEO David Schwimmer said the deal combines Octus' data and intelligence with LSEG's data and analytics business to deliver best-in-class credit data, intelligence and workflows across the liquidity spectrum, further positioning LSEG as a global leader in fixed income. Collier said Octus' customer-first approach is a natural cultural fit with LSEG and that the combination offers significant opportunity for growth.
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