MSCI Announces Upgrade to ‘Baa3’ Investment Grade Rating from Moody’s Ratings

Rhea-AI Summary

MSCI Inc. announced an upgrade to an investment-grade rating of 'Baa3' by Moody's Ratings, highlighting the company's growth, profitability, and strong cash flow. This marks the third major credit rating agency to assign MSCI an investment-grade rating.

Positive

• Moody's upgraded MSCI's senior unsecured notes and senior unsecured bank credit facility ratings to an investment grade rating of 'Baa3'.
• The outlook was changed from positive to stable following the ratings upgrade.
• Recognition of MSCI's increased scale, high profitability, and strong cash flow generation in addition to compelling secular trends in the investment industry.
• MSCI now holds an investment grade rating from three major credit rating agencies, including S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Negative

• None.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MSCI Inc. (“MSCI” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community, announced today that Moody’s Ratings (“Moody’s”) upgraded MSCI’s senior unsecured notes and senior unsecured bank credit facility ratings to an investment grade rating of ‘Baa3’, previously from ‘Ba1’. The outlook was changed from positive to stable following the ratings upgrade.

“We are proud of the investment grade rating upgrade from Moody’s, which recognizes our increased scale, high profitability and strong cash flow generation in addition to the compelling secular trends in the investment industry that continue to support long-term demand for MSCI’s services,” said Andy Wiechmann, Chief Financial Officer.

Moody’s upgrade marks the third major credit rating agency to assign MSCI an investment grade rating, including by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. To review MSCI’s credit ratings click here.

About MSCI Inc.

MSCI is a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community. With over 50 years of expertise in research, data and technology, we power better investment decisions by enabling clients to understand and analyze key drivers of risk and return and confidently build more effective portfolios. We create industry-leading, research-enhanced solutions that clients use to gain insight into and improve transparency across the investment process.

To learn more, please visit www.msci.com. MSCI#IR

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to future events or to future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “may,” “could,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond MSCI’s control and that could materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.

Other factors that could materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements can be found in MSCI’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 9, 2024, and in quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed or furnished with the SEC. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if MSCI’s underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from what MSCI projected. Any forward-looking statement in this press release reflects MSCI’s current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to MSCI’s operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. MSCI assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240513370826/en/

MSCI Inc.

Investor Inquiries

jeremy.ulan@msci.com

Jeremy Ulan +1 646 778 4184

jisoo.suh@msci.com

Jisoo Suh +1 917 825 7111

Media Inquiries

PR@msci.com

Melanie Blanco +1 212 981 1049

Konstantinos Makrygiannis +44 (0)7768 930056

Tina Tan +852 2844 9320

Source: MSCI Inc.

FAQ

What is MSCI's new investment grade rating from Moody's Ratings?

MSCI's new investment grade rating from Moody's Ratings is 'Baa3'.

How many major credit rating agencies have assigned MSCI an investment grade rating?

Three major credit rating agencies, including Moody's Ratings, S&P Global Ratings, and Fitch Ratings, have assigned MSCI an investment grade rating.