Blackstone Group entered into an agreement to acquire Sphera, an ESG performance and risk management service provider, from Genstar Capital.
The agreement, announced by the firms in a joint news release Tuesday, values the company at about $1.4 billion. The deal is expected to close later this year, said Matthew Anderson, spokesman at alternative money manager Blackstone, in an email.
Sphera, which offers environmental, social and governance software, data and consulting services, was originally acquired by Genstar Capital, a middle-market private equity manager, from IHS Inc. in 2016.
"The increasing importance of environmental, social, governance issues to businesses globally is a key thematic investing focus for Blackstone," said Eli Nagler, senior managing director at Blackstone, in the news release. "Sphera has established itself as a market leader in the ESG software and solutions space, and we're excited to partner with Paul (Marushka, Sphera president and CEO) and this best-in-class management team to continue to accelerate their impressive growth trajectory."
Blackstone and Genstar have $649 billion and $33 billion, respectively, in assets under management.
