ICE’s IDC–S&P Evaluated Pricing Tie-Up Sparks Competition Concerns

In October, ICE acquired Interactive Data from private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus for $5.2 billion (IMD, Oct. 26, 2015). The jewel in the crown was IDC’s evaluated bond pricing business, which generates 70 percent of the vendor’s $939 million annual revenues, according to ICE's results call. Then three weeks ago, the exchange announced the acquisition of a second evaluated bond pricing provider, Standard & Poor’s Securities Evaluations, which ICE bought from McGraw-Hill