This publication reports on an important acquisition deal for the wealth sector and what it means for ARC Research’s international growth ambitions.

S&P Dow Jones Indices, part of New York-listed S&P Global, is buying wealth data and indices of ARC Research. ARC’s figures, gathered from wealth managers, are used in the private client sector to compare performance.

Under the terms of the deal, S&P Dow Jones Indices have the right to use the ARC brand. The agreement does not affect ARC’s advisory business. The transaction, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. 

The ARC Indices, which compare performance data from all the contributing firms, take account of the risk of the portfolios and compare the net of fee outcomes received by investors. 

Founded in 2002, ARC Research has a proprietary dataset of more than 500,000 private client portfolio and is used by more than 190 investment managers and wealth advisors globally. Managers contributing data include Barclays, Canaccord, Charles Stanley, Coutts, RBC Brewin Dolphin, Rathbones, Schroders and UBS. 

The acquisition means that ARC (full name is “Asset Risk Consultants”) can accelerate its business growth beyond its established home turf of the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands, and can become a global concern, Paul Kearney (pictured), managing director, told WealthBriefing in a call yesterday.

“We had been looking at how to turbocharge that [non-UK business] and take ARC into other geographies. The next stage is to make it a global platform,” he said. S&P Dow Jones Indices track and measure about $27 trillion of assets, he noted. ARC’s advisory division has $25 billion in assets for international families and charities. 

The infusion of capital will allow ARC to invest into its consultancy arm – “the largest multi-family office that no-one has ever heard of," Kearney said. 

Such a transaction comes at a time when organisations seek to plug perceived gaps in their research and data as markets shift. For example, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, which has pushed into the private markets space, bought Preqin Research, a specialist in alternative investment data, in 2024. 

The kind of data and experience required to assemble the ARC private client portfolio performance is hard to replicate from scratch, Kearney said. “When faced with a [data and information] deficit, any company has the option of either to 'buy or build'."

Paul Kearney speaks with the experience of someone who has worked on the private banker's side of the street. He has been at ARC since joining from Kleinwort Hambros. This publication interviewed him back in 2022 about his vision for the ARC business. Also, see stories here and here.

S&P rationale
“This acquisition will expand S&P DJI’s capabilities to deliver innovative, high-quality benchmarks and data solutions tailored to the evolving needs of wealth managers, private banks, and financial advisors,” S&P Dow Jones Indices said in its statement about the transaction yesterday. 
 
Graham Harrison, founder and chairman of ARC Group, said: “We have always dreamt of taking the ARC Wealth Indices and our vision of better performance transparency to private clients across the globe.”

ARC was advised by leading global strategy and transactions firm EY-Parthenon and London-based law firm Farrer & Co.