News Corp to Acquire OPIS

News Corp announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) and related assets from S&P Global and IHS Markit.

The scaled, highly profitable and consistently growing digital data, analytics and insights provider will become part of Dow Jones’ burgeoning Professional Information Business (PIB), which includes Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Newswires and Factiva. OPIS has a revenue base that is nearly 100% digital, 95% recurring and operates at approximately 50+% Adjusted EBITDA margins¹, with modest Capex requirements.

News Corp is acquiring OPIS for $1.150 billion in a cash transaction, subject to customary adjustments, and also expects to receive an estimated tax benefit of $180 million as part of the transaction². S&P Global and IHS Markit announced in May their exploration of the divestiture of the businesses to ensure a timely merger of both companies. News Corp’s acquisition of OPIS is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and the consummation of the S&P Global and IHS Markit merger, which is expected in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.

Founded in 1977, OPIS today is a global industry standard for benchmark and reference pricing and news and analytics for the oil, natural gas liquids and biofuels industries, and a growing provider of insights and analytics in renewables and carbon pricing. At its core, OPIS provides end-to-end pricing and analytics information to the energy industry from the refinery to the retailer.

With this acquisition, Dow Jones will also be providing pricing and news and analytics for the Coal, Mining and Metals end markets through McCloskey, among other brands. In addition, Dow Jones will be well poised to leverage the global transition to renewables and the growth opportunities resulting from emerging energy categories like hydrogen, carbon credits, biofuels, LNG, solar, water and electric vehicles.

OPIS will also help Dow Jones in its goal of building the leading global business news and information platform for professionals. With its valuable data, which is used as a currency for the industry, OPIS has deep and trusted customer relationships with high renewal rates, and a seasoned management team with an average of 18 years of experience.

“OPIS will be the cornerstone for a rising commodities, energy and renewables digital business that we are convinced will have a positive impact on Dow Jones and News Corp,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. “We certainly believe OPIS and Dow Jones will be more than the sum of their valuable parts. Dow Jones is ideally positioned to accelerate growth at OPIS, while OPIS will be a powerful pillar, alongside Risk & Compliance, in the fast-growing Dow Jones Professional Information Business.”