New York financial analytics firm RiskMetrics Group has put itself up for sale, according to press reports.
Citing "people familiar with the matter", the Wall Street Journal says media companies and private-equity firms have been contacted about a possible acquisition.
Boutique bank Evercore Partners is handling the sale, which could be worth around $1.3 billion, a premium of 30% on the firm's current value.
Interested parties include MSCI, Bloomberg, McGraw-Hill and Thomson Reuters, says the WSJ. The same firms are also understood to be weighing bids for Interactive Data, which majority shareholder Pearson recently confirmed is up for sale.
RiskMetrics, which provides risk analysis, financial research and corporate-governance services for investors, began as an internal function within JP Morgan in 1994 before being spun out as a separate company in 1998.
RiskMetrics Puts Itself Up for Sale - WSJ