TransUnion Enhances Consumer Insights with Agreement to Acquire Verisk Financial Services
TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Verisk Financial Services for $515 million, funded with cash on hand. This acquisition aims to enhance TransUnion’s consumer insights by combining its data with Verisk’s Argus Information & Advisory Services, providing a ‘full wallet view’ of consumer spend. Verisk Financial generated $143 million in revenue and $41 million in Adjusted EBITDA in 2021. TransUnion anticipates revenue growth acceleration post-acquisition, projecting high-single-digit growth in 2023 and low-double-digit growth in 2024. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2022.
- Acquisition of Verisk Financial for $515 million expected to enhance data capabilities.
- Verisk Financial generated $143 million in revenue with a 29% Adjusted EBITDA margin in 2021, indicating strong financial performance.
- Projected revenue growth acceleration to high-single-digits in 2023 and low-double-digits in 2024, enhancing long-term growth prospects.
- Expected immediate accretive impact on 2022 Adjusted EPS upon closing.
- Acquisition may face regulatory approval risks or conditions that could delay closure.
- Possible integration challenges and higher-than-anticipated costs associated with the acquisition.
- Verisk Financial’s leading business, Argus Information & Advisory Services, focuses on credit and debit card accounts and demand deposit account behaviors that complement TransUnion’s core consumer credit business.
- Together, Verisk Financial and TransUnion create a “full wallet view” of consumer spend and produce actionable new insights into consumer behavior for participating customers.
CHICAGO, Feb. 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Verisk Financial Services, the financial services business unit of Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK). Verisk Financial is relied upon by leading financial institutions, payments providers and retailers worldwide for competitive studies, predictive analytics, models and advisory services to provide a clear perspective on where their business stands today — and how to best position them for success in the future.
Verisk Financial’s leading business, Argus Information & Advisory Services, provides proprietary competitive portfolio performance insights sourced from a consortium of financial institutions, which complements TransUnion’s ability to help participating customers understand consumer behavior through a “full wallet view.” Around the core Argus business, Verisk Financial has added capabilities to address merchant fraud, regulatory compliance and consumer bankruptcy for financial institutions around the world.
TransUnion has agreed to acquire Verisk Financial for
“Verisk Financial is a distinctive business with authoritative, differentiated data — particularly from Argus’s consortium of lender-contributed data and analytics. TransUnion’s broad range of data, analytics and technology enhances Verisk Financial’s existing data set and expands their addressable market while delivering valuable innovation to members of the consortium,” said Chris Cartwright, President and CEO of TransUnion.
With the acquisition of Verisk Financial, TransUnion intends to provide enhanced insights and solutions to help consortium members increase financial inclusion, acquire new accounts, and improve fraud prevention, risk management and targeting through better application of solutions like CreditVision® and CreditVision® Link. TransUnion plans to accelerate the modernization of delivery of Verisk Financial’s products by leveraging the technology of its PRAMA Analytics Platform.
“As consumers continue to digitize their financial behaviors, the addition of Verisk Financial will augment our existing data and analytics capabilities, deepening customer partnerships and complementing our insights and benchmarking solutions,” said Steve Chaouki, President of U.S. Markets and Consumer Interactive at TransUnion. “Together, our enhanced capabilities will help our respective customers accelerate their growth by allowing them to make better – and faster – decisions driven by a holistic ‘full wallet view’ of how consumers are using their accounts.”
Following TransUnion’s acquisitions of Neustar and Sontiq, and the sale of TransUnion’s healthcare business, the acquisition of Verisk Financial strengthens the company’s position as a leading provider of innovative solutions to businesses around the globe. The acquisition will provide TransUnion with authoritative data sets for credit and debit card accounts and demand deposit account behavior and will enhance the company’s ability to scale current offerings and ultimately enable consortium members to make more informed decisions that better serve consumers.
“Today’s consumer requires unique, tailored solutions across a range of financial needs. TransUnion is a respected industry leader, and the combined assets of each company will only improve the way we serve customers. Further, the acquisition elevates TransUnion as an advisor helping financial institutions serve the ever-changing consumer landscape,” said Lisa Bonalle-Hannan, president of Verisk Financial.
Verisk Financial, a business unit of Verisk that serves the financial services industry, is headquartered in White Plains, NY, serving clients in more than 40 markets around the world. The Argus business, a long-standing strategic partner of TransUnion, represents approximately
The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
About TransUnion (NYSE:TRU)
TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionable picture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.® A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people.
http://www.transunion.com/business
About Verisk Financial
Verisk Financial, the financial vertical of Verisk consists of Argus, G2, LCI, Fintellix, Commerce Signals, Verisk Financial Research and MarketView business entities is relied upon by leading financial institutions, payments providers, and retailers worldwide for competitive studies, predictive analytics, models, and advisory services to provide a clear perspective on where their business stands today—and to best position them for success in the future.
About Argus
Leading financial institutions worldwide count on Argus benchmarking data, analytics, models, and advisory services to understand their world today – and make decisions that position them for the future. Competitive benchmarks that boost our client’s bottom line. Predictive analytics that improve profits. Fraud prevention tools that protect their assets. Advisory services that accelerate their growth. And new solutions that excite and engage their customers. We translate raw numbers into business intelligence, and business intelligence into real-world actions that power our customers productivity and performance, so they can excel today — and win tomorrow. We leverage this expansive network of data-powered solutions to supply insights and advice around the world, transforming our unique data and deep domain expertise into our client’s business advantage.
TransUnion Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of TransUnion’s management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Any statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, including our guidance and descriptions of our business plans and strategies. These statements often include words such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “guidance,” “suggest,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimate,” “target,” “project,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “will,” “forecast,” “outlook,” “potential,” “continues,” “seeks,” “predicts,” or the negative of these words and other similar expressions.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements include: failure to realize the synergies and other benefits expected from the proposed acquisition of Verisk Financial Services; the risk that required regulatory approvals are not obtained or are obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; the failure of any of the closing conditions in the definitive agreement to be satisfied on a timely basis or at all; delay in closing the proposed acquisition; the possibility that the proposed acquisition, including the integration of Verisk Financial Services, may be more costly to complete than anticipated; business disruption during the pendency of the proposed acquisition and following the acquisition closing; risks related to disruption of management time from ongoing business operations and other opportunities due to the proposed acquisition; the effects of pending and future legislation and regulatory actions and reforms; macroeconomic and industry trends and adverse developments in the debt, consumer credit and financial services markets and other macroeconomic factors beyond TransUnion’s control; risks related to TransUnion’s indebtedness, including our ability to make timely payments of principal and interest and our ability to satisfy covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness; the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on TransUnion, Verisk Financial Services or our ability to complete the acquisition; and other one-time events and other factors that can be found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and any subsequent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Current Report on Form 8-K, which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are available on TransUnion’s website (www.transunion.com/tru) and on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website (www.sec.gov). Many of these factors are beyond our control. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this press release.
David Blumberg
TransUnion
david.blumberg@transunion.com
312-972-6646
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