Bloomberg buys Canoe to chase $15T private markets boom
What's the deal? BloombergDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → is acquiring private market data automation specialist Canoe Intelligence, a move it calls one of the most significant in its history. The company framed it as the "latest step" in a multi-year programme to build tools for private-asset investors. Terms were not disclosed.
What does Canoe do? Launched in 2018, Canoe's platform uses machine learning and other artificial intelligence to automate data exchanges between general partners (GPs) and investors, the limited partners (LPs). Its clients include institutional investors, capital allocators, wealth managers, family offices, and asset servicing firms.
Why now? Capital has flooded into private markets, which have grown to about $15 trillion, according to Preqin and the Bank of England. Private credit direct lending alone is valued at $2.1 trillion.
What's the rationale? The acquisition will let Bloomberg offer richer private data and build new products, said chief executive Vlad Kliatchko. That aims to bring greater transparency to often opaque private markets.
"Canoe gives us access to the data, technology and community to respond to that shift and positions Bloomberg to deliver an experience that will define the next era of investing," Kliatchko said in a statement.
What changes? The deal builds on Canoe's integration earlier this year into Bloomberg PORT Enterprise, Bloomberg's order management system. Canoe's capabilities will now be fully absorbed, serving clients with new tools across public and private markets.
What could go wrong? Demand is running ahead of quality. An SP Global Market Intelligence survey this year found two-fifths of GPs were dissatisfied with available information, while fewer than a quarter said they were satisfied.
The signal: Data providers are racing to capture private markets growth, from startup Alkymi to Fitch. This week, Intercontinental Exchange launched a classification service for private credit instruments with Apollo. "Private markets are where the growth and the client demand both are right now," said John Cole Scott, president at CEF Advisors/CEFData. "[It] is one of the few places left with real headroom."
Read more: A-Team Insight
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