Verisk to Buy EagleView for $650 Million

(Bloomberg) -- Verisk Analytics Inc., the supplier of data to insurers and banks, agreed to buy EagleView Technology Corp. for $650 million in cash, adding an image library that encompasses about 90 percent of U.S. structures.

The deal will allow Verisk to bolster its underwriting software and expand offerings to insurance and government customers, according to a statement. Jersey City, N.J.-based Verisk said the transaction may be completed by July 15.

Verisk, founded by insurers, has been making acquisitions to add actuarial data since an initial public offering in 2009. In 2012, it bought credit-card data firm Argus Information & Advisory Services LLC for $425 million and medical-record aggregator MediConnect Global Inc. for $349 million.

The purchase of EagleView “advances our position in the imagery analytics market, adding new municipal and commercial customers,” Verisk CEO Scott Stephenson said in the statement.

EagleView’s image library covers more than 1 million square miles, according to the statement. The parent company of Pictometry International Corp. and Eagle View Technologies Inc. has offices in Rochester, N.Y., and Bothell, Wash.

Verisk said it expects to receive about $25 million in tax benefits as part of the transaction. The cash payment will be reduced by about $13 million, reflecting the company’s minority equity ownership of EagleView.

Verisk gained about 1 percent to $63 at the close yesterday in New York. It has risen 16 percent in the past year, compared with the 26 percent advance of the Russell 1000 Index.

 

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