London, New York, NY and Dallas, TX - Markit, the financial information services company, and JPMorgan today announced that they have agreed to terms under which Markit will acquire J.P. Morgan FCS Corporation (“FCS”). FCS is the leading provider of portfolio and risk management software and services to syndicated loan market participants, including the Wall Street Office family of products.

The combination of FCS and Markit brings together highly complementary data and software services. The combined entity will be the leading provider of independent loan market data and software, currently used by over 400 financial institutions to manage over $1 trillion in assets. This will reinforce Markit’s position in the global credit markets, and enable the firm to develop and deliver innovative solutions to improve operational efficiency and transparency in the loan markets.

Lance Uggla, Chief Executive Officer of Markit, said: “Both FCS and Markit have long and proven track records of building critical infrastructure to support the global loan market, including software and pricing. By bringing together these complementary businesses, our syndicated loan platform will have over 350 loan market specialists, more than 400 institutional relationships and a shared vision for the future of the loan market. This is an exciting development for our employees and customers alike.”

Conrad Kozak, Managing Director and CEO of JPMorgan Investor Services, said: “FCS is an industry leader that has offered key solutions to our clients for many years, and Markit is a service provider that we have worked with extensively and positively. The combination of these two businesses makes sense and creates a strong market player. Meanwhile, JPMorgan will continue to be a leading provider of a comprehensive set of alternative investment and fund administration services to asset managers, hedge funds and private equity funds globally.”

Mark Murray, President of FCS, said: “Our team is focused on innovation and solutions for our clients and the broader leveraged loan market. Wall Street Office software and connectivity with investors, combined with the infrastructure and experience of Markit in the loans space, will allow us to develop new solutions to drive efficiency and facilitate straight-through processing.”

FCS has core operations and an experienced management team based in Dallas, Texas that will join Markit’s management team. Mark Murray, President of FCS, will be appointed Executive Vice President at Markit.