McGraw Hill Financial to acquire Charlottesville-based SNL Financial for $2.2 billion

New York-based McGraw Hill Financial said Monday it has signed an agreement to acquire Charlottesville-based SNL Financial for $2.2 billion.

McGraw is the information and analytics company behind the Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and other brands. It has approximately 17,000 employees in 30 countries.

SNL provides data, news and analysis on financial institutions and other business sectors.  The company, founded in 1987, has more than 5,000 customers and approximately 3,000 employees based in 10 countries.

“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,” Douglas L. Peterson, president and CEO of McGraw Hill Financial, said in a statement.

McGraw is expected to fund the transaction with approximately $525 million in cash and $1.7 billion in new debt.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.