Bureau van Dijk
Bureau van Dijk is a major publisher of business information, and specialises in private company data combined with software for searching and analysing companies. It is a Moody's Analytics company. Orbis is Bureau van Dijk's flagship company database.
On 15 May 2017 it was announced that Moody's entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Bureau van Dijk, which completed in August 2017.
Overview
Bureau van Dijk's product range combines data from regulatory and other sources, including 160 information providers, with software to allow users to manipulate data for a range of research needs and applications. Unlike other providers of content, Bureau van Dijk 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.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, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Vienna, Washington D.C. and Zurich.
Bureau van Dijk'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 has a team of journalists writing news stories on deals and market 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. Bureau van Dijk claims to offer the most powerful comparable resource of information on private companies in the world. The company brand statement is "The Business of Certainty". The company regularly blogs content and white papers, offering free resources on compliance and other risk areas.
History
Bureau van Dijk originated in the 1970s., when Belgian businessman Marcel van Dijk and partners established a company named "Bureau Marcel van Dijk" specialising in documentary and information systems. In 1972, it expanded to Paris and Brussels.In 1985, on the retirement of Marcel van Dijk, Professor Bernard van Ommeslaghe and Alain Liedts took over the company and broadened its operations to management consulting, auditing and IT support. In 1987, Bureau van Dijk started a new service in Europe with the design and dissemination on CD-ROM of economic and financial databases having company information.
In 1991, a second company, "Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing", was formed to update and expand these databases, while the consulting division remained within Bureau van Dijk Ingénieurs Conseils. The owners of Bureau van Dijk were also members of management and the board, and the company has since been sold.
Candover acquired a 60% stake in Bureau van Dijk in 2004 after founder and chairman Professor van Ommeslaghe, who was 70, decided to sell part. The other 40% was then thought to be owned by the management.
Bureau van Dijk was sold to Charterhouse Capital Partners in July 2011, backed by 505 million euros of leveraged loans, including 365 million euros of senior loans and 140 million euros of mezzanine debt maturing in 2019. In July 2014, EQT AB purchased Bureau van Dijk from Charterhouse backed by an 845 million-euro equivalent leveraged loan. In early 2015, Swedish pension fund Sjätte AP-fonden bought a 3% stake in Bureau van Dijk, through a direct co-investment.
In May 2017, Moody's Analytics announced it would buy the company for 3 billion euros, which was completed in August 2017.