London Stock Exchange Group agreed to purchase Citigroup’s fixed-income analytics and index businesses for $685 million, the exchange said in a statement Tuesday.
The inclusion of The Yield Book and World Government Bond index will boost assets under management benchmarked to its FTSE Russell indexes to $15 trillion from $12.5 trillion, with fixed-income assets benchmarked to its indexes increasing to $6 trillion from $3.5 trillion, a spokesman for LSEG said in a telephone interview.
The acquisition of The Yield Book, Citi’s fixed-income analytics system, will strengthen the global distribution reach of LSEG’s index business, FTSE Russell, to the asset owner communities in North America and Asia, the exchange said in the statement.
Citigroup’s businesses will continue under the leadership of Mark Makepeace, group director of information services and CEO of FTSE Russell, following the acquisition and will form part of FTSE Russell. According to the spokesman, the names of the indexes and analytics tools will not be rebranded.
LSEG doesn’t expect any changes to the 200 personnel coming from Citigroup, the spokesman added.
“The acquisition represents a significant step for FTSE Russell to acquire a world-class fixed-income analytics and index business, enhancing our ability to provide customers with broader multiasset capabilities and deeper data and analytics offering,” Mr. Makepeace said in the statement.
The transaction, which is funded by cash, is expected to close in the second half of the year subject to regulatory clearance in U.S., the LSEG spokesman added.
