GlobalData agrees to buy Research Views in £90m deal

GlobalData announced on Thursday that it has conditionally agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of Research Views, a company controlled by Michael Danson and Wayne Lloyd and other minority shareholders.

The AIM-traded firm said that, under the terms of the acquisition, 15,957,447 new ordinary shares would be issued to the vendors of Research Views, which equates to £90m based on the volume weighted average price of an existing ordinary share of 564p over the 30 days prior to the announcement of the possible acquisition.

In addition, net debt of £9.8m would be assumed by the company on completion, which included shareholder debt of £8.4m.

The company would procure that the shareholder debt would be repaid by the Research Views Group to Michael Danson and his associated companies on completion, with such repayment to be funded by the company's existing banking facilities.

Completion was expected to occur following the general meeting on 24 April.

“This transaction consolidates the group's transformation into a global data and analytics business with a truly differentiated multi-industry offering,” said GlobalData independent committee chairman Bernard Cragg.

“It is consistent with our focusing on data and analytics by strengthening our existing industry offerings and expanding the industries we cover.

“The market outlook for data and analytics is encouraging with real and achievable opportunities for profitable growth.”