S&P Global enters the supply chain more deeply through Orbcomm's partnership

Financial information giant S&P Global has added its activity in the supply chain information market in two agreements with well-known electronic recording equipment provider Orbcomm.

In the agreement announced this week, S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) is holding a stake in Orbcomm. The size and price paid for the shares have not been disclosed in the announcement of the transaction preparation.

The spokeswoman for Standard & Poor’s Global Market Intelligence (SPGMI) is the Standard & Poor’s Global division, which will manage its relationship with Orbcomm and also declined to comment on the size of OrbComm’s S&P Global shares.

Orbcomm was a publicly traded company when it was acquired by GI Partners in 2021. The company was worth $1.1 billion at the time, and GI paid about 50% of Orbcomm's share price, which was traded on Nasdaq stock.

A spokesperson for SPGMI also declined to confirm that the shares were obtained from GI Partners. S&P Global did not mention GI partners when announcing the deal.

Release time did not reply to GI partners' emails.

When GI partners acquired Orbcomm, there were no reports of other equity holders in the company's new ownership, and Orbcomm was still listed as a GI portfolio company.

In a recent confirmation of Orbcomm's debt rating, Moody's reported that Orbcomm's revenue was $310 million in 2024. This is a growth over 2020, when Orbcomm was traded publicly last year at $248.5 million.

Orbcomm's debt is rated by S&P Global, a sister company of SPGMI. It currently has a B- rating, and it is higher than Moody's CAA1 rating.

Part Two of the deal – The first deal that Standard & Poor’s Global highlighted in the announcement of the deal was that Standard & Poor’s Global acquired OrbComm’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) data services business. The company describes Orbcomm's AIS business as “a leading provider of satellite data services for tracking and monitoring vessels, thus enhancing visibility at sea.”

With OrbComm's shares, S&P Global is now essentially in the ELD business. But ELD is just part of Orbcomm's product in the truck field. They also include a variety of visibility tools for tasks such as trailer tracking, which the company provides IoT solutions to other departments, including maritime.

S&P said it also partnered with Orbcomm to “build a strategic alliance to develop a range of differentiated supply chain data and insight products, highlighting its commitment to further investing in the industry while helping customers navigate the complex maritime environment.”