NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Global Platts, the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire PIRA Energy Group, a leader in global energy market analysis. The purchase extends S&P Global Platts' energy analytical capabilities by enhancing the Company's oil offering and strengthening its position in the natural gas and power markets. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016. Financial terms were not disclosed.

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Founded in 1976, New York-based PIRA provides over 500 energy and commodity customers in 60 countries with a broad range of energy research and forecasting products and services. Customers spanning oil and gas companies, traders, refiners, pipeline and industrial companies, financial organizations and governments use PIRA's research, forecast data and consulting expertise to undertake fundamental analysis and modelling of the global energy markets.

Imogen Joss, President at S&P Global Platts, said: "PIRA's globally respected offering, solid customer base and established analytical team offer S&P Global Platts an exciting opportunity to accelerate the development of our global oil and gas analytics capabilities. Together with our recent acquisitions of RigData and Commodity Flow, PIRA will help us provide customers around the world with deeper, more informed insight into energy and commodity markets."

Gemma Postlethwaite, CEO of PIRA, said: "As part of S&P Global Platts, we see significant opportunities to bring our unique insight to even more of S&P Global Platts' international customer base, and complement its essential oil, gas and power offerings. S&P Global Platts is committed to investing in its analytical capabilities, and we are pleased that PIRA is an important component of that strategy."

Dr. Gary Ross, Executive Chairman and Head of Global Oil, PIRA said: "We have made great strides in enhancing our products and services to date. This new partnership will help PIRA to accelerate new innovation with combined assets and experts around the globe, and I look forward to continuing to drive our analytical capabilities forward in this exciting new phase of our journey."

To learn more about the products and services that PIRA provides, please visit: www.pira.com.

About S&P Global Platts

At S&P Global Platts, we provide the insights; you make better informed trading and business decisions with confidence. We're the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets. Customers in over 150 countries look to our expertise in news, pricing and analytics to deliver greater transparency and efficiency to markets. S&P Global Platts coverage includes oil and gas, power, petrochemicals, metals, agriculture and shipping.

S&P Global Platts is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.platts.com.

Contact
Americas: Kathleen Tanzy, + 1 917 331 4607, kathleen.tanzy@spglobal.com

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, which express management's current views concerning future events, trends, contingencies or results, appear at various places throughout this release and use words like "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "future," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "strategy," "target" and similar terms, and future or conditional tense verbs like "could," "may," "might," "should," "will" and "would." For example, we may use forward-looking statements when addressing topics such as: the outcome of contingencies; changes in our business strategies and methods of generating revenue; the development and performance of our services and products; the expected impact of acquisitions; and our cost structure, cash flows or liquidity.

Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements include, among other things:

    --  the volatility of the energy marketplace;
    --  worldwide economic, financial, political and regulatory conditions;
    --  concerns in the marketplace affecting our credibility or otherwise
        affecting market perceptions of the integrity or utility of our products
        and services;
    --  our ability to maintain adequate physical, technical and administrative 
        safeguards to protect the security of confidential  information  and
        data, and the potential of a system or network disruption that results
        in regulatory penalties, remedial costs and/or improper disclosure of
        confidential information or data;
    --  the effect of competitive products and pricing;
    --  consolidation in our end-customer market;
    --  --the health of the commodities markets;
    --  the level of success of new product development and global expansion;
    --  our ability to integrate, and realize expected synergies, savings or
        benefits from the businesses we acquire;
    --  the level of our capital investments;
    --  our ability to successfully recover should we experience a disaster or
        other business continuity  problem, such as a hurricane, flood, 
        earthquake, terrorist attack, pandemic, security breach, cyber-attack,
        power loss, telecommunications failure or other natural or man-made
        disaster; and
    --  our exposure to potential criminal sanctions or civil remedies if we
        fail to comply with foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that are
        applicable in the domestic and international jurisdictions in which
        operate.

The factors above are not exhaustive. S&P Global and its subsidiaries operate in a dynamic business environment in which new risks may emerge frequently. Accordingly, we caution readers not to place undue reliance on the above forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. S&P Global and its subsidiaries undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which it is made. Further information about our businesses, including information about factors that could materially affect our results of operations and financial condition, is contained in S&P Global's filings with the SEC, including Item 1a, Risk Factors, in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10- K.

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SOURCE S&P Global Platts

SOURCE: S&P Global Platts