Moody's To Acquire Disaster Risk Modeling and Analytics Firm RMS

Moody's Corp. will acquire climate and natural disaster risk modeling and analytics firm RMS for approximately $2.0 billion.

RMS has more than 400 risk models covering 120 countries and is a leading provider of climate and natural disaster risk modeling services to the global property-casualty and reinsurance industries. For the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2021, RMS is expected to generate approximately $320 million in revenue and an adjusted operating income of approximately $55 million.

In a statement, Moody's said the acquisition would accelerate the development of its global integrated risk capabilities to address the next generation of risk assessment.

"Today's leaders face a complex, interlinked world of risks and stakeholders," Rob Fauber, president and CEO of Moody's, said in the statement. "In the context of a global pandemic, the climate crisis, and increasing cyberattacks, our customers must manage a wider range of risks than ever before. We are excited to add RMS and its team of world-class data scientists, modelers, and software engineers to the Moody's family to help accelerate solutions that enable customers to build resilience and make better decisions."

"We share the vision to bring a global, integrated risk assessment platform to our markets with the goals of deeper, more sophisticated risk insights and greater global resiliency," Karen White, CEO of RMS, said in the statement. "Within Moody's, I'm confident RMS will be able to accelerate technology and model innovations while combining with Moody's core data and analytics offerings for powerful, holistic solutions."

Moody's said it would fund the transaction through a combination of cash and the issuance of new debt. The acquisition is expected to close late in this year's third quarter.