LSEG’s $3.5bn Octus buy hands roles to US trio

Latham, Weil and McDermott are among the firms advising on LSEG’s $3.5 billion deal for debt data business Octus from PE firm Permira.

The deal will add Octus to LSEG’s fast-growing data business, which has become increasingly important to the group since its $27 billion acquisition of Refinitiv in 2021.

LSEG said the acquisition would “transform” its offering in credit and private market data, two areas where demand for specialist data has surged in recent years.

Octus, formerly known as Reorg, is expected to generate more than $300 million in revenue this year, with margins of around 40%.

Big-ticket data deal

Latham is acting for LSEG on the acquisition, with a cross-border corporate team led by New York partners Leah Sauter and Peter Harwich, alongside London partners Farah O’Brien and Mark Austin.

Freshfields is advising LSEG on the financing, Legal Business reported.

Weil and McDermott are acting for Permira and Octus. McDermott’s team is led by New York partner and global co-head of private equity Robert Rizzo, who joined the firm from Weil earlier this year.

Boutiques Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen and Moulton Moore Stella are advising Octus chief executive and founder Kent Collier and the company’s management team.

Permira bought Reorg in 2022 in a deal that valued the business at $1.3 billion, with Weil advising Permira and Kirkland acting for seller Warburg Pincus.

Data M&A boom

The deal is the latest sign of investor appetite for financial data businesses, particularly those serving the booming private markets sector.

BlackRock agreed to buy private markets data provider Preqin for £2.5 billion in 2024, with Skadden and Macfarlanes leading the legal advice.

S&P Global followed last year with a $1.8 billion acquisition of With Intelligence, with Clifford Chance and Proskauer enlisted.

Octus rival 9fin was also valued at more than $1 billion after its latest funding round earlier this year.

Permira has remained active on major deals. It acquired JTC for £2.3 billion last November and earlier this year sold Evelyn Partners to NatWest for £2.5 billion.