MSCI Expands Custom Index Offering With Acquisition of Foxberry
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Insights
The acquisition of Foxberry by MSCI represents a strategic move to enhance MSCI's capabilities in index customization and analytics. This is indicative of the broader trend within the financial industry towards personalized investment solutions and the growing demand for sophisticated tools that can accommodate unique investor preferences. By integrating Foxberry's foxf9® platform, MSCI can offer a more robust and interactive experience for clients, potentially leading to increased client engagement and retention.
From a market research perspective, the ability to offer hyper-customized indices and advanced simulation capabilities could provide MSCI with a competitive edge. As investors increasingly seek to align their portfolios with specific values or goals, such as sustainability criteria, MSCI's augmented offering may attract a wider client base. Moreover, the emphasis on technology-driven solutions aligns with the industry's digital transformation, suggesting that MSCI is positioning itself to meet future market demands.
While the terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, MSCI has indicated that the financial impact of the transaction is not expected to be material. This suggests that the acquisition is more of a strategic play rather than one that will have immediate significant financial implications. From an investment standpoint, stakeholders should consider the long-term potential for revenue growth through enhanced product offerings and potential market share gains.
Given that the transaction is set to close in the second quarter of 2024, there is a considerable lead time before any tangible results may be realized. Investors should monitor the progress of regulatory approvals and subsequent integration efforts, as these will be critical in determining the success of the acquisition.
The pending acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, which is standard for transactions of this nature. The regulatory landscape for financial service mergers can be complex, with considerations around competition law and data protection, especially given the international scope of both MSCI and Foxberry.
Stakeholders should be aware that the timeline to closing may be affected by the regulatory review process, which can be lengthy and unpredictable. Additionally, the integration of Foxberry's technology and intellectual property into MSCI's offerings will need to be managed carefully to comply with existing licensing agreements and to protect proprietary technologies.
Foxberry was founded in 2014 with the mission of building and delivering investment solutions that are driven by technology, account for a specific set of criteria, and increase the value-add for end-users. These solutions are enabled by Foxberry’s foxf9® platform, a comprehensive index and analytics platform designed to tackle the most complex index construction and risk-modelling applications. The platform focuses on index and strategy creation through hyper customization, extensive back-testing and simulation capabilities, sustainability criteria, and reporting.
The strategic integration of Foxberry and the foxf9® indexing and analytics toolset will strengthen MSCI’s existing suite of index customization solutions. By providing a new client-centric, interactive experience, MSCI will further scale its ability to deliver client ideation through simulation and analysis and introduce new features relevant for a wide variety of investors.
“Investors face the challenge of balancing competing investment objectives. This acquisition will allow MSCI to better meet demand for customized portfolios that reflect unique views and meet specific outcomes, emphasizing our commitment to providing tailored index solutions,” said Jana Haines, Head of Index, MSCI.
“The merger of Foxberry with MSCI will greatly improve the feedback loops for our clients within all areas relating to index R&D,” said Henrik Brunlid, Co-founder and CEO, Foxberry. “We are truly excited to join MSCI for the next part of our journey in building the next generation of indexing technology.”
“Foxberry built its foxf9® technology to enable indexing hyper customization. Together with MSCI, a world leader in indexing, we look forward to strengthening and scaling index innovation, leveraging MSCI’s world class data and optimizers,” added Peter Fors, Co-founder and CTO, Foxberry.
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the financial impact of the transaction is not expected to be material to MSCI. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Foxberry’s financial results will be presented as part of MSCI’s Index reportable segment.
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, including without limitation, statements relating to the planned acquisition and prospects for the newly acquired business. 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, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 10, 2023 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.
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Source: MSCI Inc.
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