Institutional Shareholder Services acquired Deminor Rating, the corporate-governance rating and proxy-voting recommendation unit of Deminor International, a shareholder advocacy firm based in Brussels, ISS announced today.
Deminor Rating provides corporate-governance rating, proxy-voting recommendations and related advisory services. Both Deminor Rating and ISS will continue to issue separate corporate-governance ratings until they can be integrated over the next year or so, said Patrick McGurn, ISS executive vice president and director-corporate programs. He declined to disclose the terms of the deal but said Deminor International will not hold any interest in ISS.
ISS will use the acquisition to establish offices in Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam. Jean-Nicolas Caprasse, Deminor Rating managing partner, will become managing director of the ISS continental Europe operation.
ISS estimates "the market size for corporate governance and proxy voting services in Europe to be almost $100 million, about 26% of the world's total," according to an ISS statement.
