London Stock Exchange to Buy Octus for $3.535 Billion to Expand Private Credit Data
Key Facts
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said on October 22, 2026, that it had agreed to buy Octus for $3.535 billion in cash, expanding the group’s presence in private credit and private markets data. LSEG will buy the company from funds managed by Permira and Octus management, including founder Kent Collier, according to the group’s statement. Octus covers the credit lifecycle through information, analytics and documents, including covenants and deal terms. LSEG said the company’s teams turn hard-to-access credit documents into structured, searchable data. Octus integrates this data into workflow and portfolio management tools, according to the statement.
The deal aims to connect Octus’s expertise in private and illiquid credit with LSEG’s existing presence in liquid credit. The group said Octus would complement its current capabilities and enable it to develop data, analytics and workflow tools covering public and private credit. LSEG CEO David Schwimmer described Octus’s solutions as specialized in the private and illiquid credit sector. The deal also allows the group to broaden its offerings across credit markets, according to its announcement. The move is part of its effort to build an integrated suite of products across different credit segments.
LSEG expects the deal to immediately boost organic revenue growth in its Data & Analytics division and add to the group’s guidance for organic subscription revenue growth of about 7% in 2027. The group said the acquisition would be neutral to adjusted earnings per share in the first full year after completion, before becoming earnings-accretive later. LSEG will finance the deal with external debt, according to its announcement. The acquisition is linked to the group’s financial plans and revenue growth expectations after closing. The announcement gave no more precise completion date than the first half of 2027.
Octus was founded in 2013 by Kent Collier and is headquartered in New York. The company has more than 900 employees, 750 clients and over 40,000 individual users, according to LSEG data. This base gives the company broad operating reach in providing information and analytics to credit market users. Its products rely on organizing hard-to-access documents and turning them into searchable material that can be used in clients’ operations. LSEG said Octus’s value lies in its specialization in illiquid and private credit.
The announcement coincided with LSEG’s third-quarter update, in which it reported 8.8% growth in total income excluding recoveries and raised its 2026 growth outlook to at least 8.0%. The group said 95% of its top 200 clients use its artificial intelligence products. In a separate third-quarter update, it reported that more than two-thirds of its top 50 Data & Analytics clients had connected to its MCP servers. It added that data consumption through this channel increased fivefold quarter on quarter during the quarter. These indicators place the deal within the group’s expansion in data services and AI tools.
LSEG shares rose 6% on the day the deal was announced, erasing their losses since the start of the year and leaving them up 4% for the year to that date, according to Reuters via MarketScreener. However, the shares remained about 24% below their 2025 peak. Reuters linked the decline to investor concerns about AI’s impact on data businesses and pressure on margins. LSEGY closed at $30.61 on October 27, 2026, according to EL7 data. These figures provide context for the share move around the announcement without changing the announced terms of the deal.
The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals, according to LSEG. In its third-quarter update, the group said it expected to complete its current share buyback program by February 2027. It also indicated that it could carry out additional buybacks worth £1.0 to 1.5 billion during 2027. Regulatory approvals remain a condition for completing the Octus acquisition within the announced timeframe. The next step is to complete the approval process ahead of the expected closing.