McGraw Hill To Buy SNL Financial For About $2.2 Billion In Cash

McGraw Hill Financial said Monday it has agreed to buy SNL Financial from private-equity firm New Mountain Capital LlC for about $2.225 billion in cash. The financial data company and owner of Standard & Poor's ratings agency said the impact of the deal will be partly offset by tax benefits of $550 million. SNL offers data, analytics and research into a range of areas including real estate, media and banking. The deal 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," McGraw Hill Chief Executive Douglas Peterson said in a statement. The deal is expected to boost McGraw Hill adjusted per-share earnings in 2016 and to boost GAAP earnings in 2018. It is expected to generate $70 million in synergies and to close in the third quarter . McGraw Hill shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up about 19% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 1%.