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Leading bookbuilding and data firm Ipreo, owned by Goldman Sachs and Blackstone, has been sold to data provider IHS Markit for $1.855bn, a move that could change the balance in the battle for the next generation of primary markets technology.
Ipreo has a large bundle of businesses, including private capital markets tech, investor relations software, and a virtual deal room / due diligence business.
But the heart of the firm is a piece of bookbuilding technology called IssueNet, which allows syndicate banks to coordinate with one another on order management and reconciliation. It was launched in 2003 under the Marketpipe brand, with the backing of the International Capital Market Association, and now has more than 100 banks as members.
More controversially, Ipreo has recently launched its Investor Access product, aiming to automate the earlier parts of the bookbuilding process — deal announcements and communications, and the taking of orders directly from investors, rather than through investment bank sales teams.
Lots of banks signed up to the product, with early support from HSBC and the major French firms, in particular. But lots of the Street’s top bond houses, including JP Morgan, Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank, hung back.
Sceptical syndicate bankers have cited several reasons for avoiding the new product to GlobalCapital, including avoiding creating another market monopoly, avoiding levelling the playing field between top tier firms and others, the firm’s refusal to make certain technological tweaks — and Ipreo’s ownership structure.
Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking and Blackstone have owned Ipreo since 2014, purchasing it...