S&P Global and RobecoSAM announced that S&P Global will acquire the ESG Ratings Business from RobecoSAM which includes the widely followed SAM* Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) – an annual evaluation of companies’ sustainability practices.
The ESG Ratings Business is comprised of two units: one administering the SAM CSA for the purpose of issuing ESG Ratings and a second that provides in-depth reports to companies seeking to understand their performance relative to their peers. The acquisition will bolster S&P Global’s position as the premier resource for essential environmental, social, and governance (ESG) insights and product solutions for its customers. Through this acquisition, S&P Global will be able to offer its clients even more transparent, robust and comprehensive ESG solutions.
“Through this acquisition, S&P Global is bringing an additional layer of critical insight to our leading suite of ESG product offerings, which will further enable our customers to create resilient strategies, build a sustainable future, and meet the expectations of an evolving market,” says Douglas Peterson, S&P Global President and CEO. “Beginning with the launch of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index over twenty years ago, RobecoSAM has been an exceptional partner in our shared commitment to bringing essential ESG intelligence, data and insight to the financial markets. Today’s announcement is an exciting next step in the evolution of our partnership that will allow S&P Global to create market differentiating ESG products and deliver new content and capabilities to our customers.”
“Beginning with the launch of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index over twenty years ago, RobecoSAM has been an exceptional partner in our shared commitment to bringing essential ESG intelligence, data and insight to the financial markets. Today’s announcement is an exciting next step in the evolution of our partnership that will allow S&P Global to create market differentiating ESG products and deliver new content and capabilities to our customers.”
First launched in 1999, in collaboration with S&P Dow Jones Indices – a Division of S&P Global, the CSA has become one of the world’s most extensive databases of sustainability information. It assesses over 4,700 companies around the world based on ESG criteria that are both industry-specific and financially material. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
