TransUnion, a financial institution used by millions for credit reports, scores and more, announced on Tuesday it will acquire New York-based analytics firm Verisk Financial Services in a deal worth $515 million.
TransUnion is a global corporation with offices in several counties but is headquartered in Chicago’s West Loop district. The company was founded in the 1960s. According to TransUnion’s website, it was the first company ever to provide credit scores.
Today TransUnion provides an assortment of financial services for both personal and business customers. Everything from running credit checks, credit protection, capital lending and industry consulting is offered by the finance giant.
In a statement, TransUnion announced the agreement between the two companies is expected to close in Q2 and will be an all-cash deal.
Verisk Financial Services is a subsidiary of Verisk, a publicly-traded consulting firm that uses data and analytics to help customers make informed business decisions. Verisk Financial Services hones in on the finance industry and provides research, risk management and bankruptcy solutions for businesses.
TransUnion stated Verisk Financial’s recent revenue earnings as a major factor in the acquisition. Last year, the company generated $143 million in revenue and TransUnion predicts the company’s revenue will continue to grow as the two companies merge.
“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,” TransUnion CEO Chris Cartwright said in a statement.
Following the acquisition, TransUnion will be able to provide customers with better market insight and fraud prevention services. It will also work on digitizing many of Verisk Financial’s services and integrating them into the Prama analytics platform. The platform was created by TransUnion and provides granular insight into markets.
“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,” Steve Chaouki, TransUnion’s president of U.S. markets, said in a statement. “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.”
TransUnion is currently hiring for several roles across all departments.
