ICE to Acquire IDC for $5.2 Billion, Expanding in Data Services
- Data services is fastest-growing business at NYSE-Owner ICE
- Analyst says IDC is a good fit for ICE's credit businesses
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. is expanding its data services business, the company’s fastest-growing source of revenue, with the $5.2 billion acquisition of Interactive Data Holdings Corp.
IDC, which filed to become a public company earlier this year, specializes in pricing corporate bonds. For the first half of the year, the firm earned 72 percent of its revenue, or $337.5 million, from its pricing and reference data segment, according to a company filing. ICE’s latest acquisition brings further resources to its data business that has already been expanded by the $350 million purchase of SuperDerivatives in October 2014. The company’s data fee segment grew 29 percent in the quarter ended in June compared with a year earlier, the biggest jump of any unit.