LSEG to Buy Credit-Data Specialist Octus From Permira for $3.535 Billion in Cash

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has agreed to acquire Octus, a provider of credit intelligence, data and workflow tools, for a cash consideration of $3.535 billion, according to LSEG's announcement. The seller is a group of funds advised by private equity firm Permira, together with Octus management including founder and chief executive Kent Collier. LSEG said the acquisition will be financed by external debt.

Deal Terms and Octus's Financial Profile

LSEG described Octus as a leading provider of credit solutions spanning intelligence, data and analytics, serving customers in private, illiquid and distressed credit markets. The company was founded in 2013 by Collier, is headquartered in New York, and according to LSEG has more than 900 employees, 750 customers and over 40,000 individual users, including buy-side firms, investment banks, law firms and advisory firms, per the investegate filing.

LSEG said Octus is expected to generate more than $300 million in revenue in 2026, with strong double-digit growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 40%, having achieved double-digit compound revenue growth since 2022. Using those disclosures, a $3.535 billion price against roughly $300 million of 2026 revenue implies a multiple of about 11.8 times forward revenue (our calculation: $3.535bn ÷ $300m). Applying the stated roughly 40% margin to that same revenue figure implies adjusted EBITDA of around $120 million, which would put the price at roughly 29 times that EBITDA estimate (our calculation: $3.535bn ÷ $120m). These are our approximations, not reported figures: LSEG did not give an exact revenue or EBITDA number, and because its guidance is for revenue of more than $300 million, both multiples should be read as upper bounds that would fall if revenue comes in higher.

Permira, which bought Octus in 2022, said the company more than tripled annual recurring revenue during its roughly four-year ownership period, driven by nearly doubling the number of products sold into credit markets, and expanded through bolt-on acquisitions of FinDox, Sky Road and LevPro, according to Permira's statement. Permira also said Octus became an "AI-native" credit platform under its ownership, and that in 2026 to date the platform executed more than four million automated classifications, one million structured data extractions and more than 250,000 content summary generations. Permira described the sale as its funds' sixth strategic exit of 2026, part of a period in which it said $13 billion was distributed to investors over the last 12 months.

LSEG said the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval, while Permira described it as subject to customary regulatory approvals and conditions; neither announcement named specific regulators or jurisdictions. LSEG said the deal will be neutral to Adjusted EPS in the first full year after completion and accretive thereafter, immediately accretive to Data & Analytics organic revenue growth and additive to its guidance for Group organic subscription revenue growth of around 7% in 2027, with no change to medium-term guidance for underlying EBITDA margin to rise a cumulative c. 150 basis points over 2027-2029 from the 2026 baseline. On completion, Octus will sit within LSEG's Data & Analytics division, with Collier continuing to run the business and reporting to co-heads Gianluca Biagini and Ron Lefferts. LSEG chief executive David Schwimmer said combining Octus' data and intelligence with LSEG's data and analytics business "creates a powerful offering for our customers, and further accelerates our growth."

Bottom line: LSEG is paying $3.535 billion in cash, funded by external debt, for a New York-based credit data and workflow provider that it says will generate more than $300 million of revenue in 2026 at an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 40%. LSEG frames the purchase, alongside Tradeweb's planned acquisition of Trumid, as creating a global leader in fixed income and credit, citing a private credit industry it estimates at $3.5 trillion and a private markets data, workflow and access served market of $7-9 billion growing at a double-digit rate. Completion is expected in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval.