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Acquisitions and Divestitures
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
Business Combinations [Abstract]  
Acquisitions and Divestitures Acquisitions and Divestitures

Acquisitions

2020
In December of 2019, CRISIL, included within our Ratings segment, agreed to acquire Greenwich Associates LLC ("Greenwich"), a leading provider of proprietary benchmarking data, analytics and qualitative, actionable insights that helps financial services firms worldwide measure and improve business performance. The acquisition will complement CRISIL's existing portfolio of products and expand offerings to new segments across financial services including commercial banks and asset and wealth managers. We will account for the acquisition using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of Greenwich will not be material to our consolidated financial statements. The completion of this acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions.

In January of 2020, we completed the acquisition of the ESG Ratings Business from RobecoSAM, which includes the widely followed SAM* Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices. The acquisition will bolster our position as the premier resource for essential environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") insights and product solutions for our customers. Through this acquisition, we will be able to offer our customers even more transparent, robust and comprehensive ESG solutions. We accounted for the acquisition using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of the ESG Ratings Business is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

2019
For the year ended December 31, 2019, we paid cash for acquisitions of $91 million, net of cash acquired, funded with cash from operations. None of our acquisitions were material either individually or in the aggregate, including the pro forma impact on earnings. Acquisitions completed during the year ended December 31, 2019 included:

•
In December of 2019, Market Intelligence acquired 451 Research, LLC ("451 Research"), a privately-held research and advisory firm that provides intelligence, expertise and data covering high-growth emerging technology segments. This acquisition will expand and strengthen Market Intelligence's research coverage, adding differentiated expertise and intelligence with comprehensive offerings in technologies. We accounted for the acquisition using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of 451 Research is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

•
In September of 2019, Platts acquired Canadian Enerdata Ltd. ("Enerdata"), an independent provider of energy data and information in Canada, to further enhance Platts' North American natural gas offering. We accounted for the acquisition using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of Enerdata is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

•
In August of 2019, Platts acquired Live Rice Index ("LRI"), a global provider of information and benchmark price assessments for the rice industry. The purchase expands Platts portfolio of agricultural price assessments while extending its data and news coverage in key export regions for international grains. We accounted for the acquisition using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of LRI is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

•
In July of 2019, we completed the acquisition of the Orion technology center from Ness Technologies. Orion was developed to become our center of excellence for technology talent to focus on innovation by providing employees with access to the latest technologies and global communications infrastructure, as well as physical spaces that enable highly-collaborative teams. We accounted for the acquisition using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of Orion is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

For acquisitions during 2019 that were accounted for using the purchase method, the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net assets acquired is allocated to goodwill and other intangibles. The goodwill recognized on our acquisitions is largely attributable to anticipated operational synergies and growth opportunities as a result of the acquisition. The intangible assets, excluding goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles, will be amortized over their anticipated useful lives between 3 and 10 years which will be determined when we finalize our purchase price allocations. The goodwill for 451 Research and Orion is expected to be deductible for tax purposes.

2018
For the year ended December 31, 2018, we paid for acquisitions in a mix of cash and stock. We paid cash for acquisitions of $401 million, net of cash acquired, funded with cash flows from operations. Additionally, stock consideration was given for our acquisition of Kensho. None of our acquisitions were material either individually or in the aggregate, including the pro forma impact on earnings. All acquisitions were funded with cash flows from operations. Acquisitions completed during the year ended December 31, 2018 included:

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In December of 2018, Indices purchased the balance of the intellectual property ("IP") rights in a family of indices derived from the S&P 500, solidifying its IP in and to the S&P 500 index family. We accounted for the acquisition on a cost basis. The transaction is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

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In August of 2018, we acquired a 5.03% investment in FiscalNote, a technology innovator at the intersection of global business and government that provides advanced, data-driven Issues Management solutions. We measured the investment in FiscalNote at cost, less any impairment, and changes resulting from observable price changes will be recorded in the consolidated statements of income. The investment in FiscalNote is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

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In June of 2018, Market Intelligence acquired the RateWatch business ("RateWatch") from TheStreet, Inc., a B2B data business that offers subscription and custom reports on bank deposits, loans, fees and other product data to the financial services industry. The acquisition will complement and strengthen Market Intelligence's core capabilities of providing differentiated data and analytics solutions for the banking sector. We accounted for the acquisition of RateWatch using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of RateWatch is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

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In April of 2018, we acquired Kensho for approximately $550 million, net of cash acquired, in a mix of cash and stock. Kensho is a leading-edge provider of next-generation analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data visualization systems to Wall Street's premier global banks and investment institutions, as well as the National Security community. The acquisition will strengthen S&P Global's emerging technology capabilities, enhance our ability to deliver essential, actionable insights that will transform the user experience for our clients, and accelerate efforts to improve efficiency and effectiveness of our core internal operations. We accounted for the acquisition of Kensho using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of Kensho is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

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In February of 2018, Market Intelligence acquired Panjiva, Inc. ("Panjiva"), a privately-held company that provides deep, differentiated, sector-relevant insights on global supply chains, leveraging data science and technology to make sense of large, unstructured datasets. The acquisition will help strengthen the insights, products and data that we provide to our clients throughout the world. We accounted for the acquisition of Panjiva using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of Panjiva is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

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In January of 2018, CRISIL, included within our Ratings segment, acquired a 100% stake in Pragmatix Services Private Limited ("Pragmatix"), a data analytics company focused on delivering cutting edge solutions in the "data to intelligence" life cycle to the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance vertical. The acquisition will strengthen CRISIL's position as an agile, innovative and global analytics company. We accounted for the acquisition of Pragmatix using the purchase method of accounting. The acquisition of Pragmatix is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

For acquisitions during 2018 that were accounted for using the purchase method, the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net assets acquired is allocated to goodwill and other intangibles. The goodwill recognized on our acquisitions is largely attributable to anticipated operational synergies and growth opportunities as a result of the acquisition. The intangible assets, excluding goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles, will be amortized over their useful lives not exceeding 10 years. The goodwill for RateWatch will continue to be deductible for tax purposes.

2017
For the year ended December 31, 2017, we paid cash for acquisitions, net of cash acquired, totaling $83 million. None of our acquisitions were material either individually or in the aggregate, including the pro forma impact on earnings. All acquisitions were funded with cash flows from operations. Acquisitions completed during the year ended December 31, 2017 included:

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In August of 2017, we acquired a 6.02% investment in Algomi Limited ("Algomi"), an innovative fintech company focused on providing software-enabled liquidity solutions to both buy-side and sell-side firms within the credit markets. Our investment in Algomi will help facilitate product collaboration and enable future business expansion. We accounted for the investment in Algomi using the cost method of accounting. The investment with Algomi is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

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In June of 2017, CRISIL, included within our Ratings segment, acquired 8.9% of the outstanding shares of CARE Ratings Limited ("CARE") from Canara Bank. CARE is a Securities and Exchange Board of India registered credit rating agency providing various rating and grading services in India whose shares are publicly traded on both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. We accounted for the investment in CARE as available-for-sale using the fair value method of accounting. The investment in CARE is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

Non-cash investing activities
Liabilities assumed in conjunction with our acquisitions are as follows:
(in millions)
Year ended December 31,
 
2019
 
2018
 
2017
Fair value of assets acquired
$
110

 
$
857

 
$
83

Cash and stock consideration (net of cash acquired)
91

 
803

 
83

Liabilities assumed
$
19

 
$
54

 
$
—



Divestitures

2020
In January of 2020, Market Intelligence entered into a strategic alliance to transition S&P Global Market Intelligence's Investor Relations ("IR") webhosting business to Q4 Inc. ("Q4"). This alliance will integrate Market Intelligence's proprietary data into Q4's portfolio of solutions, enabling further opportunities for commercial collaboration. In connection with transitioning its IR webhosting business to Q4, Market Intelligence has made a minority investment in Q4.

2019
During the year ended December 31, 2019, we completed the following dispositions that resulted in a pre-tax gain of $49 million, which was included in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statement of income:

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On July 31, 2019, we completed the sale of RigData, a business within our Platts segment, to Drilling Info, Inc. RigData is a provider of daily information on rig activity for the natural gas and oil markets across North America. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $27 million ($26 million after-tax) in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statement of income related to the sale of RigData.

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In March of 2019, we entered into an agreement to sell Standard & Poor's Investment Advisory Services LLC  ("SPIAS"), a business within our Market Intelligence segment, to Goldman Sachs Asset Management ("GSAM"). SPIAS provides non-discretionary investment advice across institutional sub-advisory and intermediary distribution channels globally. On July 1, 2019, we completed the sale of SPIAS to GSAM. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $22 million ($12 million after-tax) in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statement of income related to the sale of SPIAS.

2018
During the year ended December 31, 2018, we did not complete any material dispositions.

2017
In April of 2017, we signed a letter of intent to sell our facility at East Windsor, New Jersey. The fixed assets of the facility of $5 million have been classified as held for sale, which is included in prepaid and other current assets in our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2019 and 2018.

In January of 2017, we completed the sale of Quant House SAS ("QuantHouse"), included in our Market Intelligence segment, to QH Holdco, an independent third party. In November of 2016, we entered into a put option agreement that gave the Company the right, but not the obligation, to put the entire share capital of QuantHouse to QH Holdco. On January 4, 2017, we exercised the put option, thereby entering into a definitive agreement to sell QuantHouse to QH Holdco. On January 9, 2017, we completed the sale of QuantHouse to QH Holdco.

The operating profit of our businesses that were disposed of for the years ending December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017 is as follows:
(in millions)
Year ended December 31,
 
2019
 
2018
 
2017
Operating profit 1
$
5

 
$
8

 
$
6

1 The year ended December 31, 2019 excludes a pre-tax gain of $49 million on our dispositions.