SIX buys Ultumus to enhance data offering
The Swiss exchange operator, SIX, has announced that it has acquired the ETF data specialist Ultumus and the transaction was closed on Monday though details of the deal were not disclosed.
Ultumus tracks ETF market data and it tracks 7700 ETFs which constitute about 95% of the whole market. This kind of data would be valuable for exchanges and funds that are looking to glean as much information from the data as possible to help them with their sales and fund performance.
SIX has acquired the company in a bid to boost its data offering and provide another choice of instruments for its clients, by way of this data. SIX and Ultumus have been partners for a long and this acquisition has happened after the index side of the business of SIX has grown over the last few years and begin to show its true value for the company.
Head of Financial Information at SIX, Marion Leslie said in the statement, “With Ultumus we have found the right partner with unique expertise in ETFs and managed data services. The combination of our capabilities will enable us to provide market-leading services to support our customers in the ETF market”.
SIX had recently acquired the ESG analytics firm Orenda, which analyses data from social media. This kind of data and analytics is expected to have a much deeper impact on the way the world behaves in the coming years and the company has looked to take the lead by this acquisition. It is clear that SIX is focussing on specific sectors that other exchanges and platforms, have not paid too much attention to as yet and it hopes to create a niche in this space so that it can set itself apart from the others.
If these fields of analytics in ETF and social media continue to grow as it expects, then the company would be in a prime position to make use of the data that it has at hand to gain an edge in the market over the others. This seems like a long-term bet for the company and only time will tell whether these bets eventually pay off or not. This is indeed a strategic decision from the leadership of the company to invest in these fields and the company would hope that the bold strategy helps to set it apart and in a prime position when the respective markets take off.
