Verisk, a Jersey City-based global data analytics and technology provider, announced Dec. 29 that it has ended its agreement to purchase Beloit, Wisc.-based AccuLynx for $2.35 billion in cash to expand its network capabilities across the insurance claims and restoration sectors.
This decision follows the notification by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it has not completed its review of the transaction by the Dec. 26 termination date set forth in the agreement.
Verisk also announced that it will redeem the $1.50 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes that were issued in connection with the planned acquisition for a price equal to 101% of their principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. The redemption is required pursuant to a special mandatory redemption provision in the terms of the notes.
As of Sept. 30, Verisk had $1.2 billion of capacity remaining under its share repurchase authorization.
Lee Shavel, president and CEO of Verisk, stated, “Verisk remains committed to our capital allocation discipline – balancing organic investment in our highest return on capital opportunities while returning capital to shareholders through dividend and repurchases. We continue to have confidence in our ability to deliver results in line with our long-term growth targets for this year, for 2026 and beyond.”
AccuLynx has notified Verisk that it believes Verisk’s termination of the merger agreement is invalid. Verisk strongly disagrees with this assertion and intends to vigorously defend against any such assertions.
In July, Verisk agreed to buy AccuLynx for $2.35 billion in cash. The acquisition of AccuLynx was expected to be additive to Verisk’s revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margin, and accretive to adjusted EPS by year end 2026.
AccuLynx’s SaaS platform provides business management workflow for residential property contractors with expertise in roofing. AccuLynx provides a full end-to-end solution, which would have complemented Verisk’s property-estimating solutions. AccuLynx’s roofing materials and labor datasets would augment analytics and benchmarking for insurers and contractors.
The acquisition would have created opportunities for cross-sell, upsell and expanded data augmentation across complementary client bases that have a high degree of overlap.
At the time of acquisition announcement, Shavel said AccuLynx was “a natural fit and extension of the solutions we provide insurance carriers, adjustors and contractors through our property estimating solutions business.”
Verisk shares rose $4.68, or 2.2%, to $225.03 in trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market Composite the morning of Dec. 29. The stock has declined 18.3% so far this year. Verisk has a market cap of $31.4 billion.
