Stock market index provider firm MSCI has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Real Capital Analytics (RCA) for $950m in cash.
Founded in 2000, RCA provides data and analytics for the properties, transactions, and participants that work with the commercial real estate capital markets globally.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The firm aggregates transaction data and offers intelligence on market pricing, capital flows, and investment trends in over 170 countries.
Customers, consisting of investors, lenders, brokers, and advisers, leverages RCA’s insight to formulate their strategies, source new opportunities, and execute their deals.
The deal bolsters MSCI’s suite of real estate solutions, that provides data, analytics, and support tools for managing investments and analysing performance and risk.
The firm plans to enhance its commercial real estate capabilities by leveraging RCA’s database of over $20 trillion of commercial property transactions linked to over 200,000 investor and lender profiles.
MSCI chairman and CEO Henry Fernandez said: “The combined strength of MSCI’s existing data, analytics and tools, and the addition of Real Capital Analytics’ wealth of commercial real estate data and analytics, creates an unparalleled level of solutions for the real estate market.
“Investors will be better supported to access the opportunities that exist within this sector at scale, informed by industry-leading insights and the premier global database capturing the global commercial real estate footprint.”
The RCA acquisition also underscores the MSCI’s commitment to further accelerating the use of data, analytics, and workflow applications for investors in global private assets.
This builds on the firm’s strategic partnership with Burgiss, which offers data, analytics, and technology solutions for investors of private capital.
MSCI is expected to fund the transaction with existing cash on hand and close at the end of the third quarter, or early in the fourth quarter of the year.
In 2019, the firm signed an agreement to acquire Zurich-based environmental fintech firm Carbon Delta, through its subsidiary MSCI Barra (Suisse) Sàrl.
Last month, Fund data and technology provider FE fundinfo signed an ESG data agreement with MSCI to improve its ESG capabilities.
