UK’s competition watchdog to investigate S&P Global - IHS merger

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - The UK’s competition watchdog is set to open the case into the potential acquisition of IHS Markit Ltd by S&P Global Inc. and has asked the public to submit comments on the merger by July 12, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in a release published Monday.

The planned acquisition of IHS Markit Ltd by S&P Global for $44.5 billion was announced by the two companies in December last year and would create the world’s largest financial data provider.

“The CMA is considering whether… the creation of that [merger] situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services,” the watchdog said in a statement.

Both companies put out an updated statement in May saying the sale was considered to overcome regulatory and antitrust hurdles to allow for the closure in the second half of this yearof the biggest merger since 2019.

To ease those regulatory checks, Oil Price Information Services (OPIS) and IHS Markit’s coal, metals and mining business – two key business units from IHS – have been actively marketed for divesture over the past months.

To assist with the competition assessment, the CMA has invited comments on the merger from any interested party to be submitted by July 12.

The CMA has yet to confirm the date for the launch of the merger inquiry and will do so once comments have been received.

Comments can be submitted on this page.

Quantum competes with the S&P Global business S&P Global Platts, IHS Markit and OPIS in providing news, analysis and pricing services for commodity markets.