Credit ratings agency Moody's Corp purchased Amba Investment Services. Bangalore and New York-based Amba Investment Services provides investment research and quantitative analytics for financial companies. According to The Economic Times, the acquisition highlighted a large scale strategic appetite for startups that focus on big data and knowledge outsourcing.
Financial details of the purchase were not disclosed but sources knowledgeable about the deal said the transaction is worth around $80 million to $85 million. Once the deal is completed, Helion Venture Advisors, the current venture capital backer of Amba will exit fully from the company. The four investment banking and equity research veterans who founded the firm will also exit Amba. Veternas from Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs got together ten years to form the investment research firm. Five years ago, Helion Venture Advisors invested anywhere from $7 million to $10 million in Amba from Helion- I, its first fund.
According to a statement from the company, Amba will be operating as part of Copal Partners, a subsidiary of Moody's Analytics. Two years ago, Moody's acquired a majority holding in Copal. Moody also said that the acquisition was financed with the company's cash on hand. The deal is not expected to materially impact the earnings per share of Moody's. For 2013, Amba expects to get close to $39 million in revenues, the report said.
Moody's Analytics President Mark Almeida said, "Amba is highly regarded for its offerings to investment research firms and asset managers, and Copal is known for its strong services for corporate finance. Together, their scale, talent and resources offer global financial institutions a broader array of research and analytics."
Amba started with a workforce of 10 in Sri Lanka. It now has more than 900 employees with delivery centers located in Bangalore, Colombo San Jose and Costa Rica. Its sales offices are located in New York, London and Singapore, the report said.
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