S&P Global Announces Agreement to Acquire OpenZeppelin

S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire OpenZeppelin, the security standard for onchain finance. The transaction complements S&P Global's risk assessment and ecosystem development capabilities in digital asset markets, enhancing its ability to create the next generation of onchain security assessments, benchmarks, and deliver essential intelligence as capital markets transition onchain.     

Founded in 2015, OpenZeppelin combines leading onchain security assessments and secure development services with one of the world's leading open-source smart contract libraries. OpenZeppelin Contracts underpin over $37 trillion in value transferred, including the vast majority of the largest stablecoins and tokenized funds, and the company has conducted 900+ security engagements for the protocols and institutions defining digital asset markets. OpenZeppelin's technology and expertise are trusted by decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional financial institutions to secure the onchain infrastructure that increasingly underpins digital assets.

"Our digital assets strategy centers on bringing trusted data, benchmarks and transparent risk assessment to markets as they move onchain," said Yann Le Pallec, President, S&P Global Ratings. "As digital assets and tokenized markets continue to mature, OpenZeppelin's technology and expertise will complement our smart contract and onchain technology risk assessment capabilities, giving traditional financial institutions and DeFi-native companies alike the confidence to build and transact in this new environment."

The acquisition will expand S&P Global's risk assessment capabilities into the onchain technology-risk layer and as an extension to onchain financial products, while S&P Global's trusted brand, deep institutional relationships, and global distribution accelerate OpenZeppelin's reach into traditional finance.

"OpenZeppelin's standards, technology, and expertise already power the infrastructure behind the world's leading stablecoins, tokenized funds, DeFi protocols, and onchain markets," said Demian Brener, CEO, OpenZeppelin. "With S&P Global, that foundation reaches a broader set of organizations entering this market, as well as the blockchain networks and DeFi protocols gaining institutional adoption."

OpenZeppelin will continue to operate as its own business unit under the OpenZeppelin name. Brener will continue to lead the business, reporting to Yann Le Pallec, President, S&P Global Ratings.

The transaction is subject to closing conditions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the financial results of S&P Global.

Jefferies LLC is serving as financial advisor to S&P Global; Clifford Chance is acting as S&P Global's legal advisor. FT Partners is serving as exclusive financial and strategic advisor to OpenZeppelin; Cooley is acting as OpenZeppelin's legal advisor.

Media Contacts: 

Russell Gerry  
S&P Global  
+44 20 7176 3569  
russell.gerry@spglobal.com   

Farhan Husain
S&P Global  
+1 (347) 213 0065 
farhan.husain@spglobal.com 

About S&P Global 

S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) enables businesses, governments, and individuals with trusted data, expertise and technology to make decisions with conviction. We are Advancing Essential Intelligence through world-leading benchmarks, data, and insights that customers need in order to plan confidently, act decisively and thrive in a rapidly changing global landscape.

From helping our customers assess new investments across the capital and commodities markets to navigating the energy expansion, acceleration of artificial intelligence, and evolution of public and private markets, we enable the world's leading organizations to unlock opportunities, solve challenges and plan for tomorrow – today. Learn more at www.spglobal.com.

About OpenZeppelin 

OpenZeppelin is the security standard for onchain finance. Since 2015, the company has set the bar for blockchain and smart contract security through the industry-standard OpenZeppelin Contracts library, behind $37 trillion in value transferred, and 900+ security engagements that have surfaced 10,000+ vulnerabilities before production. OpenZeppelin secures the world's leading blockchain networks, DeFi protocols, institutions, and enterprises globally. Learn more at www.openzeppelin.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 in this press 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, management may use forward-looking statements when addressing topics such as: the outcome of contingencies; future actions by regulators; changes in the Company's business strategies and methods of generating revenue; the development and performance of the Company's services and products; the expected impact of acquisitions and dispositions; the Company's effective tax rates; and the Company's cost structure, dividend policy, 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 forward-looking statements include, among other things:

• worldwide economic, financial, political, regulatory, and geopolitical conditions (including slower GDP growth or recession, restrictions on trade (e.g., tariffs and disruptions to shipping in connection with the military conflict in the Middle East), instability in the banking sector and inflation), and factors that contribute to uncertainty and volatility (e.g., supply chain risk), geopolitical uncertainty (including military conflict), natural and man-made disasters, civil unrest, public health crises (e.g., pandemics), and conditions that result from legislative, regulatory, trade and policy changes, including from the U.S. administration;
• the volatility and health of debt, equity, commodities and energy markets, including credit quality and spreads, the composition and mix of credit maturity profiles, the level of liquidity and future debt issuances, equity flows from active to passive, fluctuations in average asset prices in global equities, demand for investment products that track indices and assessments and trading volumes of certain exchange traded derivatives;
• the demand and market for credit ratings in and across the sectors and geographies where the Company operates;
• the Company's ability to maintain adequate physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect the security of confidential information and data, or protect against a system or network disruption that results in regulatory penalties and remedial costs or improper disclosure of confidential information or data;
• the outcome of litigation, government and regulatory proceedings, investigations and inquiries;
• concerns in the marketplace affecting the Company's credibility or otherwise affecting market perceptions of the integrity or utility of independent credit ratings, benchmarks, indices and other services;
• the level of merger and acquisition activity in the United States and abroad;
• the level of the Company's future cash flows and capital investments;
• the effect of competitive products (including those incorporating artificial intelligence ("AI")) and pricing, including the level of success of new product developments and global expansion;
• the impact of customer cost-cutting pressures;
• a decline in the demand for our products and services by our customers and other market participants;
• our ability to develop new products or technologies, to integrate our products with new technologies (e.g., AI), or to compete with new products or technologies offered by new or existing competitors;
• the introduction of competing products (including those developed by AI) or technologies by other companies;
• our ability to protect our intellectual property from unauthorized use and infringement, including by others using AI technologies, and to operate our business without violating third-party intellectual property rights, including through our own use of AI in our products and services;
• our ability to attract, incentivize and retain key employees, especially in a competitive business environment;
• our ability to successfully navigate key organizational changes;
• the continuously evolving regulatory environment in Europe, the United States and elsewhere around the globe affecting each of our businesses and the products they offer, and our compliance therewith;
• the Company's exposure to potential criminal sanctions or civil penalties for noncompliance with foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that are applicable in the jurisdictions in which it operates, including sanctions laws relating to countries such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, anti-corruption laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, and local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials, as well as import and export restrictions;
• the Company's ability to make acquisitions and dispositions and successfully integrate the businesses we acquire;
• consolidation of the Company's customers, suppliers or competitors;
• the ability of the Company, and its third-party service providers, to maintain adequate physical and technological infrastructure;
• the Company's ability to successfully recover from a disaster or other business continuity problem, such as an earthquake, hurricane, flood, civil unrest, protests, military conflict, terrorist attack, outbreak of pandemic or contagious diseases, security breach, cyber attack, data breach, power loss, telecommunications failure or other natural or man-made event;
• the impact on the Company's revenue and net income caused by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
• the impact of changes in applicable tax or accounting requirements on the Company;
• the ability of the separation of Mobility Global to qualify for tax-free treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes;
• any disruption to the Company's business in connection with the separation of Mobility Global; and
• any loss of synergies from separating the businesses of Mobility Global and the Company that adversely impact the results of operations of both businesses, or the companies resulting from the separation of Mobility Global not realizing all of the expected benefits of the separation.

The factors noted above are not exhaustive. The Company and its subsidiaries operate in a dynamic business environment in which new risks emerge frequently. Accordingly, the Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which it is made, except as required by applicable law. Further information about the Company's businesses, including information about factors that could materially affect its results of operations and financial condition, is contained in the Company'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