Bureau van Dijk

Bureau van Dijk (“BvD”)
Privately Held
Industry Business Intelligence/ company information
Founded 1991[1]
Founder Bernard Van Ommeslaghe
Number of locations
 30+[2]
Products A range of products including Orbis, Fame, Mint, Compliance Catalyst, Credit Catalyst, Procurement Catalyst, TP Catalyst
Number of employees
 approx. 700[2]
Parent EQT
Website

http://www.bvdinfo.com

Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing (known as Bureau van Dijk or “BvD”) is a major publisher of business information, and specialises in private company data combined with software for searching and analysing companies. It is owned by Swedish private equity group EQT and its senior management.

Overview

BvD's product range combines data from regulatory and other sources, including 140 information partners, with flexible software to allow users to manipulate data for a range of research needs and applications.[3] Unlike other providers of content, BvD reveals their sources and shows the source data – allowing users to create their own analytics and predictive analysis based on underlying primary data and reporting.[4]

The majority of staff focus on sales, marketing and customer support in offices in: Amsterdam, Beijing, Bratislava, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Copenhagen, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Manchester, Mexico City, Milan, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Vienna, Washington D.C. and Zurich.

BvD's research team collects both global M&A data and intelligence around corporate ownership structures, and is based in Manchester, Brussels and Singapore. It also have a team of journalists writing news stories on deals and rumours.

Product management and software development are based in the Geneva and Brussels offices.

The company has over 5,000 clients including banks, insurance companies, financial and consulting organisations, governments and research institutes.[5]

History

The origin of BvD dates back to 1970s. Belgian businessman Marcel van Dijk established a company specialising in documentary and information systems, named "Bureau Marcel van Dijk". In 1972, its activities were further deployed in the two companies established in Paris and Brussels.

In 1985, on the retirement of Marcel van Dijk, Professor Bernard van Ommeslaghe and Alain Liedts took over the company and extended its operations to include management consulting, auditing and IT support. In 1987, Bureau van Dijk took the pioneering role in Europe by launching a new activity: the design and dissemination on CD-ROM (the precursor to BvD's online databases) of economic and financial databases with information on companies.[6]

In 1991, a second company, "Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing" (BvD), was formed to assume responsibility for updating and expanding these databases, while the consulting division remained grouped within the company Bureau van Dijk Ingénieurs Conseils. The owners of BvD were private individuals who were also members of the management and board, and the company has since been successfully sold.[6]

Candover acquired a 60% stake in Bureau van Dijk in 2004 after founder and chairman Bernard Van Ommeslaghe, who was 70, decided to sell part. The other 40% was then thought to be owned by the management.[7]

BvD was then sold to Charterhouse Capital Partners in July 2011, backed with 505 million euros of leveraged loans,[5] including 365 million euros of senior loans and 140 million euros of mezzanine debt maturing in 2019.[8] In July 2014, EQT Partners purchased BvD from Charterhouse backed by a 845 million-euro equivalent leveraged loan financing.[9] In early 2015, Swedish pension fund Sjätte AP-fonden (AP6) bought a 3% stake in BvD, through a direct co-investment.[10]

Products

BvD offers a range of products/databases which focus on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), transfer pricing, compliance and third party due diligence, procurement and supplier risk , credit risk, academic research and business development. These products include:

Orbis

Orbis is Bureau van Dijk's flagship company database. It contains information on companies across the world and focuses on private company information. It has information on around 200 million companies. Bureau van Dijk sources the information from over 140 different providers.

Amadeus

Analyse Major Databases from European Sources (Amadeus) is a pan-European database containing financial information on over 13 million public and private companies.

Bankscope

Bankscope is a global database containing information on over 28,000 public and private banks.

Osiris

Osiris is a database of listed companies, banks and insurance companies around the world.

Orbis Insurance Focus

Orbis Insurance Focus is a comprehensive database of detailed reports on public and private insurance companies around the world. It contains information on some 12,000 companies.

Zephyr

Zephyr is an information solution containing M&A, IPO and venture capital deals. As of January 2015, Zephyr has information on over 1.2 million deals and rumours.[11]

EIU Dataservices

BvD also work with the Economist Intelligence Unit to publish EIU DataServices – a range of economic products combined with advanced software. These include products such as EIU CountryData, EIU Country Risk Model, EIU Financial Services Indicators and Forecasts and EIU World Investment Service.

Country-specific databases

BvD publishes country-specific databases, focussing primarily on European countries.[12]

Zephus

Zephus is BvD's M&A research subsidiary and is based in Manchester. It is headed by BvD's head of M&A products, Lisa Wright. Researchers work on collating information on noteworthy deals and write M&A reports.

The researchers work in over 30 languages and all relevant information is translated into English. Zephus also offers bespoke research for the media.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Company Overview of Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing BV". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Company History". Bureau van Dijk.
  3. ↑ "Bureau van Dijk Enriches Mint UK With New Technology Tracker". London: PRNewswire. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Busch, Jason (20 March 2014). "Bureau van Dijk – A Provider to Watch". Spend Matters. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Bureau van Dijk". BC Partners. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Group Van Dijk". Van Dijk Management Consultants nv. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  7. ↑ Harrington, Ben (11 Apr 2007). "£600m media bidding war looms". Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group). Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Kuo, Patricia (13 March 2013). "Bureau Van Dijk Said to Seek Loan to Refinance Junior Debt". Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "EQT BvD buyout backed with 845 mln euros of loans". Reuters. 29 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "AP6 invests in EQT’s Bureau van Dijk". Benelux unquote. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  11. ↑ "Our Products". Bureau van Dijk. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Bureau van Dijk Databases 2012-2015 Agreement". Jisc Collections. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Zephus - our M&A research subsidiary". Bureau van Dijk. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
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