London Stock Exchange Group in talks with Permira to buy Octus for about $3.5 billion
Key Facts
London Stock Exchange Group confirmed it is in talks with Permira to acquire credit data company Octus for about $3.5 billion, a move the group linked to stronger revenue growth. In its statement on the potential acquisition, the group said "no definitive agreement has been reached" and that any deal would be subject to regulatory approval. Octus has a prominent position in providing data on illiquid credit and private credit, the target company's two areas of focus, according to the statement. London Stock Exchange Group described Octus's solutions as "highly complementary" to its existing fixed income data and analytics and private markets solutions. It said completing the acquisition would immediately increase the revenue growth rate of its Data & Analytics division and the group as a whole. The group linked this expected impact to Octus's track record of double-digit percentage revenue growth, according to its description of the company's performance.
The talks follow first-half 2026 results showing organic revenue growth of 5.1% in London Stock Exchange Group's Data & Analytics division at constant exchange rates. In those results, the group also raised its 2026 outlook for organic total income growth, excluding recoveries, at constant exchange rates. Its expected growth range rose to 7.0–7.5% from 6.5–7.5%, according to the half-year results statement. The revision raised the lower end of the forecast range while leaving the upper end unchanged in the group's guidance for its business during the year. Alongside its revenue performance, the group returned £2.1 billion to shareholders through share buybacks in the first half of 2026. The group described the amount returned through buybacks during the period as a "record" in its first-half results disclosure.
Octus was founded in 2013 and was previously known as Reorg, according to the company's statement announcing its rebranding. Permira's relationship with the company dates to an investment agreement announced in August 2022 to buy Warburg Pincus's majority stake in Reorg. When that investment was announced, Permira said Reorg served more than 25,000 professionals, the size of its disclosed user base at the time. In its rebranding statement, Octus said more than 35,000 industry professionals relied on it as a source of information, compared with the level Permira disclosed when the investment agreement was announced. Octus also said in its October 2024 statement that its global workforce exceeded 650 employees. Reorg's business expansion included the announcement of an agreement in November 2022 to acquire FinDox, according to a statement published by Permira on the combination of the two companies. FinDox specialised in document management, compliance and data, under an agreement aimed at expanding the tools and solutions Reorg offered to credit markets.
In the stock market, London Stock Exchange Group shares fell 5% following the announcement of a possible purchase of Octus, according to Reuters Breakingviews. Reuters Breakingviews reported the move in an article published the day after the group announced it might buy the credit specialist. The group's next financial update is its third-quarter trading statement, according to the provisional financial calendar in its annual report. That calendar gives 22 October 2026 as the provisional release date. The forthcoming disclosure will cover revenue only, according to the group's description of the trading statement in its financial calendar.