FactSet Research Systems Buys YBI's Revere Data
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Revere Data LLC, which opened a research office on the Youngstown Business Incubator campus three years ago, has been purchased by FactSet Research Systems Inc. of Norwalk, Conn. Terms were not disclosed.
FactSet provides financial information and analytics to more than 48,000 clients that use its services “to stay ahead of global market trends,” the company says. Its shares trade on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq exchange.
Revere Data, based in San Francisco, provides research data on companies for financial institutions, the U.S. government, hedge funds and other institutions to assist them with investment decisions. According to FactSet’s announcment of the acquisition, Revere Data “offers a robust database of supply chain relationships that helps investors identify companies' interrelationships and mutual dependencies, as well as a comprehensive geographic revenue exposure database to manage geopolitical and macroeconomic risk.”
Said Phil Snow, senior vice president, director of global content sales at FactSet, "Revere's data solutions help refine interesting ideas and strategies so investors can better identify opportunities and measure risk exposure throughout the global equities and derivatives markets.”
Added Kevin O'Brien, CEO of Revere, in his prepared statement, "At Revere, our data sets help unlock and maximize value for our customers and partners."
What impact, if any, the purchase means for the Youngstown operation remains unknown.
Rachel Stern, senior vice president, strategic resources, and general counsel at FactSet, said the company is in a “quiet period” as it prepares to release earnings in 10 days and she could not answer questions regarding the Revere Data purchase.
For the quarter ended May 31, FactSet said its revenues increased to $214.6 million, up 6% over the prior year. Net income was $53.4 million versus $48.0 million a year ago. In addition to its Connecticut headquarters, the company operates 10 offices in the United States as well as multiple locations in Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
In February 2010, Revere Data opened its office here in the Semple Building downtown with 10 employees, relocating jobs from an office in India. Youngstown was selected after an employee whose parents live in the area convinced the company to consider the region, CEO O’Brien said at the time. The company received job creation tax credits from the state of Ohio, which he described as “very helpful” in establishing the Youngstown office.
At one point, Revere said it would expand its operations here into the former Furnitureland building on West Boardman Street, make Youngstown its operational headquarters and increase employment to 100 or more by bringing the company’s human resource and accounting departments here and expanding the research operation. In December 2011, the local office had 37 employees.
The former Furnitureland building now is home to the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute.
"The fact that Revere has attracted such a quality investor speaks loudly about the caliber of their employees, the local business climate and their management team,” said Barb Ewing, chief operations officer at the Youngstown Business Incubator. “This successful exit” -- Revere Data’s investors got their money back out, she surmises -- “really confirms what we tell people all the time. The quality of life, talent and cost of doing business in this area can go toe-to-toe with any other community in the country."
Additionally, Ewing expressed appreciation on behalf of YBI’s staff and board of directors to O’Brien and his team “for having the confidence to bring their operations to Youngstown from overseas, and to congratulate them on a job well done. We look forward to working with FactSet and are confident that they'll enjoy even greater levels of success,” she said.
Copyright 2013 by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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