Data & Private Equity: PEI Group Acquires SIPA to Standardize Data in Private Markets

The financial information sector for unlisted assets has reached another key milestone. PEI Group, a leading global player with a presence on four continents, has just announced the acquisition of SIPA (Second Infrastructure / Private Asset), a highly specialized index provider and administrator.

With 25 years of experience, the British platform PEI Group is backed by a community of leading investors such as EQT and Blackstone. Among other things, it publishes Private Equity International, the industry bible for institutional investors (LPs) and fund managers (GPs). By acquiring SIPA, PEI Group is accelerating its technological transformation, moving from its position as a leader in news and business networking to that of a giant in quantitative data and automated benchmarking.

Strategic Synergies with Private Equity International

The integration of SIPA into the PEI Group ecosystem will create an unprecedented analytical capability for investment professionals:

• A 360-degree view: Until now, PEI Group has excelled at gathering qualitative information (fundraising, talent movements, GP strategies) and publishing benchmark rankings. SIPA’s contribution adds a purely quantitative component to this.
• Industrial-scale granularity: SIPA estimates the value of approximately 1 million unlisted investments each month. By combining these exclusive datasets with PEI’s journalistic analysis, subscribers will have access to risk and performance measurement tools with surgical precision to optimize their capital allocations.

“SIPA’s recognized benchmarks in private assets align perfectly with PEI’s strategy to provide a 360-degree view to decision-makers in this sector. By integrating them into our platforms and enriching them with our unique analyses and distinctive datasets, we are taking a major step forward in our commitment to providing rigorous analysis to investors and fund managers,” explains Edouard Tavernier, CEO of PEI Group.

Consolidation of Financial Data and the Explosion of Alternative Data

This movement is at the heart of a major macroeconomic trend: the gold rush for alternative data. The global market for specialized data on unlisted assets is experiencing exponential growth of more than 20% per year. With the democratization of private markets and the influx of capital, access to exclusive, reliable, and independent data has become the key to success.

PEI Group's acquisition of SIPA reflects the major consolidation trends that have transformed the financial data industry in recent years:

• MSCI and Burgiss: The full acquisition of private equity data specialist Burgiss by index giant MSCI was driven by the same need for quantitative transparency.
• S&P Global and IHS Markit: A massive merger aimed at combining traditional credit ratings with infrastructure and real-asset data.
• Morningstar and PitchBook: The closest historical precedent, in which a financial analysis firm acquired the leading private-market data platform to corner the market on private equity data.

What are the implications for French investors?

For the private equity ecosystem in France, this acquisition is of particular significance. SIPA is the result of 10 years of cutting-edge academic research conducted by specialists atEDHEC Business School, one of France’s five largest business schools.

Combining this technology with the commercial strength of PEI Group will have several direct impacts on French companies:

• European Compliance Guarantee: SIPA is an index provider officially registered with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). For French insurers, mutual insurance companies, and banks, access to these regulatory-compliant indices will facilitate the valuation of their asset portfolios within strict prudential frameworks such as Solvency II or the International Capital Standard.
• The Impact of French Research: This initiative validates EDHEC’s technology transfer model, which is capable of transforming academic theses into industrial tools adopted by investors representing more than 1,000 billion dollars in assets under management.

“EDHEC’s initiatives, such as SIPA, aim to transform academic research into concrete and relevant solutions for the industry. PEI’s acquisition of SIPA demonstrates that this strategy continues to bear fruit and create value for both EDHEC and private-market players. “SIPA’s success encourages EDHEC to continue investing in research on private assets, whether in asset valuation, risk measurement, or performance evaluation,” said Emmanuel Métais, Dean of EDHEC Business School.