On June 19th, Moody’s Corporation announced it had secured a majority equity ownership stake in ICRA Ltd., a leading provider of credit ratings and research in India. A credit ratings agency based in the United States, Moody’s increased its stake to over 50%, up from its original stake of 28.5%.
Moody’s CEO and President Raymond McDaniel, said in regards to their boosted stake, “The successful conclusion of our offer for a majority stake in ICRA will allow us to extend our strong ties as we work together to serve the growing domestic debt market in India and across the region.”
ICRA is the second largest Indian rating company in regards to its customer base and the third largest in terms of income. Moody’s raised its offer price on May 28th, up to 2,400 rupees per equity share ($40.71), representing a premium of 51.1% to the stock closing price of ICRA on February 21st. This also represented an increase over the previous offer price of 2,000 rupees per share. The deal was also contingent on Moody’s receiving 2.15 million shares.
“We are committed to the successful completion of our offer to ICRA shareholders,” McDaniel said at the time. “Our increased offer price reflects our desire to maximize investor participation in the offer.”
The now finalized deal will also allow Moody’s to better compete with its larger rival Standard & Poor’s, which has a much larger hold in its market share in India. Currently, S&P has a 68% stake in Indian peer Crisil Ltd. that it acquired in August of last year.
With the deal finalized, its total value is around $86 million, and Moody’s has stated it will fund the offer from international cash on hand.
