MSCI Buying Real Capital Analytics For $950M

The world of commercial real estate data is becoming more consolidated.

Investment analytics firm MSCI has agreed to acquire Real Capital Analytics, which has a more specific focus on commercial real estate, for $950M in an all-cash transaction, the companies announced on Monday. The deal is expected to close at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter.

MSCI is drawing from its cash reserves, of which it had $1.97B at the end of June, to fund the purchase, according to a presentation the company gave to its shareholders on Monday. In that presentation, MSCI claimed that RCA had about $70M of annual recurring revenue as of the end of June, with double-digit percentage growth.

While the publicly traded MSCI had already had some real estate data within its platform, the purchase of RCA significantly increases its access to potential customers in the commercial real estate industry, MSCI said in its presentation. At the time of the announcement, RCA's database included more than $20 trillion worth of real estate transactions among over 200,000 investors and lenders.

MSCI's existing business lines in commercial real estate include multiple property indices and a risk analytics platform specifically related to climate change. With RCA in the fold, the company told investors it expects to add products to assist with due diligence and portfolio management.

“MSCI is a natural home for Real Capital Analytics since our primary goal has always been to bridge the information gap between commercial real estate and other asset classes across the financial markets," RCA founder and President Robert White said in a statement provided with the announcement. "The combination of the two firms creates a powerful team that will lead innovation and analytics in the real estate asset class well into the future.”