Americas > IHS acquires Markit, carbon registry in $13 billion deal

IHS acquires Markit, carbon registry in $13 billion deal

Published 15:00 on March 21, 2016  /  Last updated at 13:15 on July 5, 2017  /  Americas, Bavardage, EMEA, Nature-based, US, Voluntary

UK-based financial information company Markit and its voluntary carbon trading registry have been bought by US-headquartered information and analysis firm IHS in a $13 billion deal.

UK-based financial information company Markit and its voluntary carbon trading registry have been bought by US-headquartered information and analysis firm IHS in a $13 billion deal.

IHS shareholders will own around 57% of the combined company following the close of the all-stock deal, the two firms announced on Monday.

The Markit Environmental Registry manages carbon, water and biodiversity credits from 24 different types of environmental standards and programmes.  According to its website, the online marketplace currently lists more than 150 million environmental assets.

Markit’s registry is one of two main hubs for verified emissions reductions (VERs) in the global voluntary carbon market.  The other is operated by US-based APX.

Market sources say Markit and APX control most of the VER registry space, roughly splitting market share between them.

The Markit Registry is involved more with Gold Standard credits and those originated by jurisdictional REDD projects, while APX is more engaged with the Climate Action Reserve and American Carbon Registry programmes, as well as renewable energy certificates (RECs).

Markit was founded in 2003 by a Canadian ex-credit trader in St. Albans, north of London.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com

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