McGraw Hill Financial Buys SNL Kagan Parent SNL Financial

Deal

SNL FINANCIAL, the parent company of media research firm SNL KAGAN and STANDARD & POOR'S, has been sold by NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL and SNL management to MCGRAW HILL FINANCIAL for $2.2 billion, with tax benefits of $550 million.  NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL bought its majority stake in SNL in 2011.

"We are enthusiastic about SNL because it is a fast-growing, highly complementary subscription-based business that will enable us to accelerate our strategy to be the leading provider of transparent and independent benchmarks, analytics, data and research across the global capital, commodity and corporate markets," said MCGRAW HILL FINANCIAL President and CEO DOUGLAS L. PETERSON. "This transaction provides unique opportunities to provide our customers with end-to-end data solutions and to develop exciting new services, enhance existing offerings and expand into attractive adjacent markets.   Adding SNL to our portfolio creates a high-growth market data and analytics business that will leverage the power of the S&P CAPITAL IQ and PLATTS global platforms to realize the full potential of SNL's financial and commodities products."

PETERSON added, "SNL has a stellar management team that has sustained an impressive organic growth rate in the low to mid-teens for more than a decade and which has recently completed a strategic investment program designed to enhance profitability.  This acquisition provides an excellent opportunity to use our balance sheet to accelerate growth while preserving our investment-grade credit rating and the financial flexibility to continue making investments in our business while returning capital to shareholders."

"This is an exciting day for our clients, employees and shareholders and a true milestone event in our 28 year history," said SNL President/CEO MIKE CHINN, who will report to PETERSON. "NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL has been a tremendous partner for us over the last four years. The team there provided excellent guidance and supported numerous growth initiatives that enabled us to double our revenues over that period.  We believe MCGRAW HILL FINANCIAL, DOUG PETERSON and his leadership team are ideal partners as we relentlessly pursue our mission of providing the highest quality sector-specific data, news and analytics to our clients.  We're thrilled to continue this journey with the MCGRAW HILL FINANCIAL team and join their portfolio of market-leading brands."

SNL Chairman and NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL Managing Director PETER MASUCCI said, "We're fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with such a special company and its outstanding management team. We are confident that SNL is well-positioned to continue its strong growth as an integral part of MCGRAW HILL FINANCIAL and wish MIKE CHINN, DOUG PETERSON, and their management teams great success."

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