McGraw Hill to buy SNL Financial for $2.23B

(MHFI) Monday said it is acquiring SNL Financial, a financial news and data services provider owned by buyout firm New Mountain Capital, for about $2.225 billion in cash.

SNL Financial, which is based in Charlottesville, Va., provides data, commentary, and services for banking, real estate, energy and other sectors.

The deal is targeted to close in the third quarter.

The financial impact of the acquisition will be mitigated by tax benefits of about $550 million, the New York-based company said in a statement.

McGraw Hill’s adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations jumped 17 percent to $1.21, helped by gains from legal settlements and the sale of a legacy construction business asset.

For the period ended June 30, profit grew to $353 million, or $1.28 a share, from $292 million, or $1.06 a share, a year earlier.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations.

Also, excluding amortization, the deal is expected to be accretive to earnings per share, on an adjusted basis, in 2016, and, on a GAAP basis, in 2018. Japan’s Nikkei Inc. agreed last week to buy the FT Group from Pearson Plc for $1.3 billion, and Pearson sold Mergermarket to BC Partners, a London-based private equity firm, for 382 million pounds ($592 million) in 2013.

S&P Dow Jones Indices revenue climbed 11 percent to $148 million in the second quarter, while Commodities & Commercial Markets revenue climbed 7 percent to $234 million.