S&P Global strikes $1.8 billion deal for private markets firm With Intelligence

(Reuters) -S&P Global has agreed to buy private markets data provider With Intelligence, the company said on Wednesday, as it looks to expand its products for the fast-growing segment of financial services. Private markets are seeing increased investor interest as years of higher interest rates and muted exits have pressured private valuations at a time when industry executives are concerned about asset price bubbles in public markets. Insights into pricing and comparables for private assets have become valuable because of the historical opacity around such investments. The trend has drawn BlackRock, with the world's largest asset manager spending $12.5 billion to buy Global Infrastructure Partners last year. It also spent $3.5 billion for private markets data provider Preqin in February a