Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Blackstone to Buy Aon's Technology-enabled HR Business

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Blackstone Group L.P. (BX - Free Report) has inked a deal to acquire Aon plc’s (AON - Free Report) technology-enabled benefits and human resources (‘HR’) platform, for a cash consideration of up to $4.8 billion. The deal includes $4.3 billion at closing and further consideration of up to $500 million based on future performance.

The deal is subject to antitrust clearance and is anticipated to close by second-quarter 2017. Blackstone will run the business as a standalone company.

Blackstone stated in its release that the business, currently part of Aon Hewitt, is the largest benefits administration platform in the U.S., and a major services provider for cloud-based HR management systems.

Peter Wallace – a senior managing director at Blackstone – stated, “Blackstone sees tremendous opportunity for investing in leading businesses within the technology-enabled services sector, where we believe there is a significant opportunity to accelerate future growth. We look forward to working with the excellent management team to continue to invest in and grow the company.”

Greg Case, president and chief executive officer of Aon said, “The sale of our outsourcing platform creates incremental capital to strengthen growth in core operations, and accelerates the pursuit of inorganic growth opportunities that address emerging client needs, similar to recent acquisitions in cyber risk advisory and health brokerage solutions." The UK based company anticipates the transaction to improve its return on invested capital and be accretive to adjusted EPS in 2018.

Credit Suisse Group AG , Citigroup Inc. (C - Free Report) and SMB Capital are serving as financial advisors to Blackstone, while Morgan Stanley is serving as financial advisor to Aon.

Shares of Blackstone gained 20.1% over the past three months, significantly outpacing the 5.7% growth for the he Zacks categorized Investment Management industry. Last month, the company reported fourth-quarter 2016 economic net income of 68 cents per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 63 cents. Results were driven by increase in revenues. Also, growth in assets under management continued to be impressive. However, escalated expenses acted as a major headwind.



Blackstone currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


Zacks’ Best Private Investment Ideas

In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time?

Our experts cover all kinds of trades… from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >>


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Citigroup Inc. (C) - free report >>

Blackstone Inc. (BX) - free report >>

Aon plc (AON) - free report >>

Published in