S&P Global has signed an agreement to acquire RobecoSAM’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings business.
With this deal, S&P Global seeks to strengthen its position as a key ESG insights and product solutions provider amidst rising demand for data on sustainable investments.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal builds on a long-standing partnership between the two companies. RobecoSAM assisted S&P’s index arm in creating Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 1999.
RobecoSAM’s ESG Ratings arm includes two units. The first one manages the SAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA), which assesses companies’ sustainability practices and issues appropriate ratings.
The second unit offers detailed sustainability reports to companies.
Once complete, the acquisition will provide S&P Global with a dataset of information on more than 4,700 companies.
Alongside, RobecoSAM and its parent company Robeco, will continue to have access to the CSA data to support investment strategies. They will also continue with their work on ESG data and sustainable investing research for core asset management operations.
S&P Global president and CEO Douglas Peterson said: “Through this acquisition, S&P Global is bringing an additional layer of critical insight to our leading suite of ESG product offerings, which will further enable our customers to create resilient strategies, build a sustainable future, and meet the expectations of an evolving market.”
RobecoSAM vice-chair of the board of directors Karin van Baardwijk said: “The ESG data landscape is changing rapidly and data providers are evolving along with it.
“S&P Global is best positioned to maintain and build on the leading position of the CSA, which will continue to benefit Robeco, RobecoSAM, and their clients.”
The acquisition is slated to wrap up in the first quarter of next year, subject to certain closing conditions.
