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Markets EdgeMACALLAN 1926April 26, 20262 min readAd-free
S&P Global Pays $1.8 Billion for With Intelligence in Private Markets Data Play
Motive Partners exits after three years, delivering S&P a unified platform for LPs hunting exposure data.
Markets Edge deskMarkets Edge · Huang GoodmanSource: S&P Global ↗
S&P Global$SPGI · filed: grew revenue 7.9% in FY2025 to $15.3BNew shipTrillion Score 506Fall Risk LowNext year $14.5B–$18.2B sealedCheck ▾Close ▴
What S&P Global filed
Grew revenue 7.9% in FY2025 to $15.3 billion, operating margin 42.2% against a 4.8% median for consumer credit reporting, collection agencies, equity 50.9% of assets, and dividend per share up 18 years running. Every figure links to the filing it came from on S&P Global’s card. New ship: no warning signs. Trillion Score 506, #6 of 12 in its field; Fall Risk Low (how it is measured).
What the house said in advance
Revenue for the fiscal year after 2025-12-31 between $14.5B and $18.2B, an 80% range sealed on 26 Sept 2026 · receipt #5e6de8 · graded in public by the revenue in S&P Global’s next annual report.
Figures as filed with the SEC. Ranges, scores and boats are statistical descriptions of past filings, not ratings or recommendations. Reporting, not advice.
In plain words
S&P Global trades **$1.8 billion** in cash for dominance in private markets data, betting institutional allocators will pay for exposure transparency.
$1.8 billion
in cash
5,000
institutional subscribers and generated roughly
$140 million
in revenue over the trailing twelve months
12.9x
trailing revenue
S&P Global agreed to acquire With Intelligence from Motive Partners for $1.8 billion in cash, positioning the ratings giant as the dominant provider of private markets intelligence for institutional allocators. Motive Partners, which backed the platform's formation in 2021 through the merger of five specialist intelligence brands, exits with a clean multiple after consolidating fragmented conference and data assets into a single subscription business.
With Intelligence operates vertical intelligence services across private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and real assets, selling data feeds and proprietary research to limited partners who need exposure transparency and manager benchmarking. The platform claims 5,000 institutional subscribers and generated roughly $140 million in revenue over the trailing twelve months, implying S&P paid approximately 12.9x trailing revenue. The deal is structured as all-cash and is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to regulatory clearance.
This is the second major private markets data acquisition in twelve months, following MSCI's $950 million purchase of Burgiss in June 2024. The pattern is identical: traditional index providers and ratings houses rushing to own the infrastructure that prices illiquid exposure. With Intelligence's edge is its newsletter and event ecosystem, which doubles as distribution for its data products and creates switching costs through communitylock-in. S&P inherits 27 annual conferences, including SuperReturn and Private Credit Insights, which generate both sponsorship revenue and proprietary deal-flow signals that feed the analytics engine. The revenue mix is roughly 60% subscriptions, 40% events, giving S&P a hedge against cyclical conference attendance while locking in recurring data contracts.
The transaction also reflects the maturation of private markets as an asset class. Family offices and sovereign wealth funds now treat private equity and private credit as permanent portfolio allocations, not opportunistic sleeves, which demands the same reporting infrastructure they expect in public equities. S&P's existing Market Intelligence division already serves 90% of the largest asset managers globally, and bolting on With Intelligence creates immediate cross-sell opportunities into that installed base. Motive Partners, meanwhile, has now successfully exited two data consolidation plays in eighteen months, validating its thesis that vertical B2B intelligence platforms in fragmented markets can command strategic premiums from incumbents facing build-versus-buy decisions.
Allocators should watch for S&P's integration roadmap in the Q2 earnings call, particularly whether With Intelligence's datasets will be bundled with existing Capital IQ subscriptions or sold as a standalone SKU. The regulatory timeline matters: if clearance drags past Q3 2025, S&P may face questions about whether the private markets data arms race has already peaked. Family offices with exposure to other Motive Partners portfolio companies should note the firm's pattern of three-year hold periods and strategic exits into category leaders.
The deal closes S&P's gap in private markets infrastructure at a price that assumes 15-18% annual revenue growth over the next three years. Motive Partners timed the exit cleanly, ahead of any potential slowdown in LP fundraising.
Branded by POPS4 · proof in 60 seconds
For the principal
Track S&P's integration velocity; bundled data SKUs could reset pricing expectations across your incumbent intelligence vendors by Q4 2025.
For the operator
If you subscribe to both Capital IQ and With Intelligence, expect bundling pressure within six months; negotiate multi-year pricing now.
For the house
Named accounts with S&P exposure should model 8-10% revenue lift from cross-sell; watch MSCI's Burgiss integration for competitive benchmarking signals.
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