Acquisitions and Divestitures

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Business Combination and Asset Acquisition [Abstract]

Acquisitions

Merger Agreement

In November of 2020, S&P Global and IHS Markit Ltd ("IHS Markit") entered into a merger agreement, pursuant to which, among other things, a subsidiary of S&P Global will merge with and into IHS Markit, with IHS Markit surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of S&P Global. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each share of IHS Markit issued and outstanding (other than excluded shares and dissenting shares) will be converted into the right to receive 0.2838 fully paid and nonassessable shares of S&P Global common stock (and, if applicable, cash in lieu of fractional shares, without interest), less any applicable withholding taxes. On March 11, 2021, S&P Global and IHS Markit shareholders voted to approve the merger agreement. As of August 31, 2021, IHS Markit had approximately 398.8 million shares outstanding. Subject to certain closing conditions, the merger is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022.

2021

During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we did not complete any material acquisitions.

2020

In February of 2020, CRISIL, included within our Ratings segment, completed the acquisition of 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. The acquisition of Greenwich is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

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. The acquisition of the ESG Ratings Business is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

Divestitures

2021

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $3 million ($2 million after-tax) in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statements of income related to the sale of an office facility in India in September of 2021.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $2 million ($2 million after-tax) in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statements of income related to the sale of Standard & Poor's Investment Advisory Services LLC ("SPIAS"), a business within our Market Intelligence segment, that occurred in July of 2019.

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"), a third party provider of investor relations related services. This alliance integrated 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 received a minority investment in Q4. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $3 million ($2 million after-tax) and $11 million ($10 million after-tax) in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statements of income related to the sale of IR.

In September of 2020, we sold our facility at East Windsor, New Jersey. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $4 million ($3 million after-tax) in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statements of income related to the sale of East Windsor.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $1 million ($1 million after-tax) in Gain on dispositions in the consolidated statements of income related to the sale of SPIAS within our Market Intelligence segment in that occurred in July of 2019.

The operating profit of our businesses that were disposed of for the periods ended September 30 is as follows:


(in millions)	Three Months				Nine Months
	2021		2020		2021		2020
Operating profit 1	$	—	$	1	$	1	$	2

1 Operating profit excludes a pre-tax gain related to the sale of SPIAS of $2 million for nine months ended September 30, 2021, and $1 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020. The three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 exclude a pre-tax gain on the sale of the IR webhosting business of $3 million and $11 million, respectively.