Markit Ltd. $200 Million Accelerated Share Repurchase
Davis Polk advised Markit Ltd. in connection with accelerated share repurchase transactions it entered into with each of the counterparties, pursuant to which Markit is repurchasing $200 million of its common shares.Under the terms of the transactions, Markit received an initial delivery of approximately 5.1 million shares. The total number of shares ultimately to be repurchased by Markit under the transactions will generally be based on the daily volume-weighted average price of the shares during the calculation period for each transaction, less an agreed discount. It is anticipated that all repurchases under the transactions will be completed by the third quarter of 2016, although each counterparty has the right to accelerate settlement of its respective transaction under certain circumstances.
Based in London, Markit is a leading global diversified provider of financial information services, including pricing and reference data, indices, valuation and trading services, trade processing, enterprise software and managed services. Markit’s offerings enhance transparency, reduce risk and improve operational efficiency in the financial markets, and its more than 3,000 institutional customers include banks, hedge funds, asset managers, central banks, regulators, auditors, fund administrators and insurance companies.
The Davis Polk equity derivatives team included partner Mark M. Mendez and associate Barry J. Gewolb. The Davis Polk corporate team included partner Richard D. Truesdell Jr. and counsel Derek Dostal. All members of the Davis Polk team are based in the New York office.