Verisk Analytics, Inc., to Acquire G2 Web Services

Verisk Analytics, Inc., to Acquire G2 Web Services

JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 27, 2017 - Verisk Analytics, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSK), a leading data analytics provider, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire G2 Web Services (based in Bellevue, Washington), an industry-leading provider of merchant risk intelligence solutions for acquirers, commercial banks, and other payment system providers. 

G2 Web Services will become part of Argus, a Verisk Analytics business, which will allow Argus to enhance its offerings to clients and partners, providing unprecedented market-leading solutions in merchant and consumer fraud and reputational risk detection.

G2 provides acquiring banks, payment companies, and commercial banks the solutions they need to identify, mitigate, and monitor payments risk in their merchant and business customer portfolios. G2 Web Services has gathered more than a decade of merchant-specific data, which is incorporated in the G2 Merchant Map, the industry's most extensive fraud and compliance database. Combining data science, industry-leading technology, and deep domain expertise, the company leads the payments industry in the identification of third-party merchant risk for hundreds of the world's largest financial institutions.

"We're thrilled to have G2 join the Verisk family," said Nana Banerjee, group president of Verisk Analytics. "Both G2 and Argus share the same focus on deploying sophisticated data-driven solutions and making business safer for our clients, including banks, payment platforms, networks, and acquirers. G2 is changing the way the financial sector identifies and mitigates risk and fraud, and we firmly believe that our many other client companies across the globe will benefit from being part of the G2 platform."

"By joining with Argus, we will take our proprietary data assets, powerful technology, and deep domain expertise to the next level in helping clients fight fraud, transaction laundering, and reputational risk within the global payments and e-commerce ecosystem," said Allison Guidette, chief executive officer at G2 Web Services. "Together we will expand our capabilities to map bad-actor networks, predict payments risk, and provide clients with the best opportunity to reduce losses and fines due to merchant and business fraud and compliance violations."

"G2 is an excellent fit for the Verisk Analytics family of businesses and a great opportunity to add a unique data set that will allow us to do even more to help our customers combat fraud in the payments space," added Scott Stephenson, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Verisk Analytics.

The purchase price is $112 million, to be paid in cash to stockholders of G2. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2017, subject to the completion of customary closing conditions.

About G2 Web Services
G2 Web Services provides merchant risk intelligence solutions for acquirers, commercial banks, and their value chain partners, representing close to 60 percent of global merchant outlets. Only G2 Web Services has the experience, data, and skills to provide customers with comprehensive solutions that transform the way they manage and monitor merchant and business risk. Our platform has been built through over a decade of partnership with acquiring banks around the world and the major U.S. card networks and uses advanced technologies combined with expert analysts to deliver value to our customers worldwide. For more information, please visit www.g2webservices.com.

About Argus
Argus is a one-of-a-kind leading provider of information, scoring solutions, and advisory services to financial institutions across the globe. Our client base ranges from financial institutions and their regulators to various companies across the media industry and beyond. We maximize the value of data by transforming it into insightful information and analysis that assist our clients in understanding their market contribution, managing and mitigating risk (default, fraud, funding, and compliance), and capitalizing on their financial objectives. Argus, a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) business, is headquartered in White Plains, New York, with additional offices in San Francisco, São Paulo, Sydney, Melbourne, and London. For more information, please visit www.argusinformation.com.

About Verisk Analytics 
Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) is a leading data analytics provider serving customers in insurance, natural resources, and financial services. Using advanced technologies to collect and analyze billions of records, Verisk Analytics draws on unique data assets and deep domain expertise to provide first-to-market innovations that are integrated into customer workflows. Verisk offers predictive analytics and decision support solutions to customers in rating, underwriting, claims, catastrophe and weather risk, global risk analytics, natural resources intelligence, economic forecasting, and many other fields. Around the world, Verisk Analytics helps customers protect people, property, and financial assets.

Headquartered in Jersey City, N.J., Verisk Analytics operates in 27 countries and is a member of Standard & Poor's S&P 500^® Index. In 2017, Forbes magazine named Verisk Analytics to its America's Best Mid-Size Employers list and, in 2016, to its World's Most Innovative Companies list. Verisk is one of only six companies to appear on both lists. For more information, please visit www.verisk.com.

Contact:

Investor Relations
David Cohen
AVP, Investor Relations and Strategic Finance
Verisk Analytics, Inc.
201-469-2174
[email protected]

Media
Rich Tauberman
MWWPR (for Verisk Analytics)
202-600-4546
[email protected]