Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has agreed to buy Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) from its private equity owners for $5.2 billion in cash and stock.
The definitive agreement will see ICE hand over $3.65 billion in cash and $1.55 billion in its common stock to Silver Lake and Warburg Pincus for the market data giant.
Silver Lake and Warburg Pincus bought Interactive Data for around $3.4 billion in 2010 but in July it emerged that the firms were looking to either offload the company to a buyer or float it in an effort to reduce its debts of around $2 billion.
Nasdaq OMX, Markit and several private equity firms were all linked with an acquisition but it is New York Stock Exchange-owner ICE which has sealed a deal.
Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO, ICE, says: "With our diverse markets across virtually all asset classes, IDC will enable us to address more growth opportunities by leveraging the distribution and reach of our complementary global platforms for trading, clearing and data on a combined basis."
The acquisition, approved by both boards, is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval.