M&A Deal Summary

Vestar Capital Partners Acquires ISS

On April 30, 2014, private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners acquired financial services company ISS from MSCI for 364M USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Vestar Capital Partners’ 3rd transaction in the Financial Services sector.
  • This is Vestar Capital Partners’ 10th largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Vestar Capital Partners’ 52nd transaction in the United States.
  • This is Vestar Capital Partners’ 1st transaction in Maryland.
Investment Fate
  • ISS was sold to a consortium of financial buyers in 2017 for 720M USD.
  • ISS was sold to a strategic buyer in 2020 for 2.3B USD.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2014-04-30
Target ISS
Sector Financial Services
Buyer(s) Vestar Capital Partners
Sellers(s) MSCI
Deal Type Divestiture
Deal Value 364M USD

Target

ISS

Rockville, Maryland, United States
Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. is a provider of corporate governance and responsible investment (RI) solutions for asset owners, asset managers, hedge funds, and asset service providers. ISS’ solutions include objective governance research and recommendations; RI data, analytics, advisory, and research; end-to-end proxy voting and distribution solutions; turnkey securities class-action claims management (provided by Securities Class Action Services, LLC); and reliable global governance data and modeling tools. Clients rely on ISS’ expertise to help them make informed corporate governance and responsible investment decisions. Institutional Shareholder Services was formed in 1985 and is based in Rockville, Maryland.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Vestar Capital Partners

New York, New York, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1988
PE ASSETS 11.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Vestar Capital Partners is a private equity firm that targets management buyouts and growth capital investments across North America and Europe in the consumer, business services, and healthcare sectors. The Firm looks to invest $50 to $150 million in transactions valued up to $1 billion. Specific areas of interest include food, apparel, household goods, retail, consumer services, industrial services, information services, manufacturing, distribution, transportation, financial services, media/communications, digital health media, and medical technology. Vestar Capital Partners was formed in 1988 and is based in New York City.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 67 of 86
Sector (Financial Services) 3 of 3
Type (Divestiture) 3 of 3
State (Maryland) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 52 of 70
Year (2014) 1 of 2
Size (of disclosed) 10 of 16
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-03-21 Wilton Re Holdings

Norwalk, Connecticut, United States

Wilton Re Holdings Limited provides traditional life reinsurance and insurance Run Off Solutions through its wholly owned operating subsidiaries, Wilton Reassurance Company, Wilton Reinsurance Bermuda Limited, and Wilton Reassurance Life Company of New York.

Sell $1.8B
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-06-03 Hearthside Food Solutions

Downers Grove, Illinois, United States

Hearthside Food Solutions is a food contract manufacturer. The Company offers diverse production capabilities including bars, cookies, crackers, granola, snack components, and other baked goods. Hearthside specializes in the production of complex, high-volume, short-run products, which represent an increasing portion of customer demand. Hearthside Food Solutions was founded in 2009 and is based in Downers Grove, Illinois.

Buy -

Seller(S) 1

SELLER

MSCI

New York, New York, United States
Category Company
Founded 1998
Sector Financial Services
Employees6,059
Revenue 2.5B USD (2023)
DESCRIPTION

MSCI is a provider of investment decision support tools ranging from large pension plans to boutique hedge funds, offers a range of products and services - including indexes, portfolio risk, performance analytics, and ESG data and research - from many internationally recognized brands such as Barra, RiskMetrics, and IPD. MSCI was founded in 1998 and is based in New York City.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 1 of 2
Sector (Financial Services) 1 of 1
Type (Divestiture) 1 of 2
State (Maryland) 1 of 1
Country (United States) 1 of 2
Year (2014) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2013-01-23 InvestorForce

Wayne, Pennsylvania, United States

InvestorForce is a provider of performance measurement and reporting software to institutional investment consultants. Its integrated solution provides for daily monitoring, analysis and reporting on institutional multi-asset class portfolios.

Buy $24M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-06-27 GMI Ratings

Portland,, Maine, United States

GMI Ratings is a provider of research and ratings on environmental, social, governance (ESG) and accounting-related risks affecting the performance of public companies. The firm’s ESG ratings on 6,400 companies worldwide incorporate 150 ESG KeyMetrics to help investors assess the sustainable investment value of corporations.

Buy $15M
Mergr

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Company

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