Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP and Goldman Sachs Group Inc's takeover arm said on Monday they have agreed to acquire capital markets data and software provider Ipreo Holdings LLC from another buyout firm, KKR & Co LP. The deal underscores Ipreo's appeal to private equity firms, which routinely turn to investment banks to tap capital markets and have an understanding of the reliance of these banks on financial research and specialized software for their deals.The terms of the transaction were not publicly disclosed but a person briefed on the deal said it valued Ipreo a little lower than $975 million. KKR will retain a minority ownership stake in Ipreo, the private equity firms said in a statement.New York-based Ipreo provides software to manage several aspects of the capital market activities of investment banks, including book building and deal-related accounting.It also offers databases with equity and fixed income market contacts. Its Bigdough database is a popular source for institutional contact data and investor profiles.
The Blackstone Group L.P. (Blackstone) is a manager of private capital and provider of financial advisory services. Shares of BX fell by 0.13% or $-0.04/share to $30.10. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $19.15 and as high as $35.39. On average, 5560950 shares of BX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 715245.
Source
