IHS, which provides data analysis for energy and automotive companies, has agreed to acquire London-based Markit to bulk up in financial services.

Shareholders of IHS will get about 57 per cent of the enlarged company and stockholders of Markit – which is being valued at $5.5 billion through the deal – will get the rest. The tie-up, which will be called IHS Markit, would have $3.3 billion in revenue based on 2015 results.

IHS is a publisher and provider of information for industries including finance, aerospace, automakers, energy and technology.

Markit compiles indexes for financial products, including credit-default swaps.

Data, index and over-the-counter trading businesses are becoming sought-after assets at a time when increasing competition has made exchange-traded products such as stocks less profitable.

“Everyone expects this area to be high growth in terms of revenue,” said Hirander Misra, chief executive of futures platform Global Markets Exchange.

The combined company will be based in the UK rather than the US, where IHS is based. – (Bloomberg/Reuters)