Nasdaq Announces Plans to Acquire Analytics Company eVestment

Nasdaq is looking at acquiring institutional investment data and analytics specialist eVestment for $705 million as it expands its market technology business in an effort to attract more clients in what has been a largely stagnant market over the past few years.

Founded in 2000, eVestment offers a range of subscription cloud-based services for institutional investors and consultants, and with several acquisitions over the past few years, the company has entered the hedge fund data business.

According to the company statement, eVestment is recognized as a global leader in traditional and hedge fund data, analysis and insight. It has more than 2,000 clients, including 92 percent of the top asset managers, 76 percent of the top consulting firms, and 80 percent of the top 20 pension funds. The list also includes big names such as Morgan Stanley, Google parent Alphabet Inc. and BlackRock Inc.

Nasdaq, whose purchase of International Securities Exchange last year increased its share in US options to about 40%, has chosen to acquire several companies in the industry to address client needs while continuing to aggressively release new functionality through organic development.

New York-based Nasdaq runs six options exchanges, the largest of which are PHLX, Nasdaq Options Market (NOM), and ISE. The US giant said that having eVestment on board will enhance its non-transaction related businesses, which today accounts for nearly 75 percent of the exchange operator’s total revenue.

Nasdaq president and CEO Adena Friedman commented: “The investment management community is relying increasingly on independent data and advanced analytics to drive their key business decisions, including asset allocation and investment choices. eVestment is the definitive source from asset managers of critical fund-level and investment-level data and analytics to enable asset owners to make informed decisions.”

“Our leadership team is excited to join Nasdaq. We believe the combined organization will allow us to grow our core business while tapping into Nasdaq’s technology expertise, leading data and software products, and global distribution,” added Jim Minnick, CEO and co-founder, eVestment.