Argus Media boss becomes majority owner as Hg sells stake

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The chief executive of Argus Media is taking a majority stake in the energy and commodity data provider as private equity group Hg sells its investment.

Adrian Binks, who has led Argus since 1984, will become the majority owner of the company while existing investor General Atlantic will end up with a “large minority” stake, according to a statement on Monday. Argus and General Atlantic are acquiring shares from Hg, which is a minority investor.

Hg bought its stake in Argus in 2020 from General Atlantic and is fully exiting its investment. Argus management will also remain as shareholders.

The deal values Hg’s investment in Argus at about £52mn, according to Monday’s statement, and underscores investor appetite for financial data services.

London-based Argus provides more than 11,000 customers with news and price information on energy and commodity markets. The company says its annual revenues have grown without interruption for the past 40 years.

The company was founded in the 1970s by Jan Nasmyth, a former Treasury official and British Army officer, as a weekly newsletter called Europ-Oil Prices covering European petroleum products.

Financial data providers have attracted billions of dollars from investors in recent years as backers are drawn by their typically predictable subscription-based revenues.

Last year private equity group Francisco Partners agreed to buy financial data provider Macrobond for almost €700mn, while in 2022 Permira gained control of Reorg in a deal that valued the distressed debt and bankruptcy information provider at about $1.3bn.