24/7 Wall St.

RiskMetrics Group, Inc. has filed today to come public via an Initial public offering.  It lists that it will sell up to $200 million in common stock under an undisclosed ticker and the exchange has not been stated.  Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and Banc of America have been fingered as the underwriters.

RiskMetrics is a provider of risk management and corporate governance products and services to participants in the global financial markets to help clients better understand and manage the risks associated with their financial holdings, provide greater transparency to their internal and external constituencies, satisfy regulatory and reporting requirements and make more informed investment decisions.  It sells solutions across multiple asset classes to asset managers, hedge funds, pension funds, banks, insurance companies, financial advisors and corporations. As of June 30, 2007, it had approximately 3,300 clients located in 50 countries: 74 of the 100 largest investment managers, 31 of the 50 largest mutual fund companies, 34 of the 50 largest hedge funds, each of the 10 largest global investment banks and 17 of the 30 OECD central banks.

RiskMetrics consists of two industry leading businesses: RiskMetrics and ISS.

• RiskMetrics:  RiskMetrics is a global provider of multi-asset, position-based risk and wealth management solutions.
• ISS:  ISS is a provider of corporate governance and specialized financial research and analysis services to institutional investors and corporations around the world.  ISS was acquired on January 11, 2007, and it facilitates the voting of proxies by institutional investors and provides in-depth research and analysis to help inform their voting decisions and assess issuer-specific risk.  ISS serves approximately 2,750 clients. On August 1, 2007, ISS acquired CFRA, a leading forensic accounting research firm.

The company sells products and services primarily on an annual subscription basis and generally receives upfront subscription payments from clients.  On a pro forma basis for the year ended December 31, 2006, it generated revenues of $204.5 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $56.9 million and a net loss of $4.8 million.  Revenues for the first 6-months of 2007 were $110.515 million and net income was $745,000.00 after taxes.  Entities affiliated with General Atlantic LLC own 28% of the company.

Jon C. Ogg
September 19, 2007