Adrian Binks, chairman and chief executive of Argus, along with General Atlantic, a leading global growth investor and existing Argus minority shareholder, will each consolidate their stakes in Argus, with General Atlantic and Argus itself acquiring shares from current minority shareholder, Hg.

Following the transaction, Adrian Binks, who has built the company since taking management control in 1984, will continue to lead Argus and, as a result of the transaction, he will become the majority owner of the company, as envisaged when General Atlantic invested in 2016. General Atlantic will own a large minority of Argus, with Argus management also remaining as shareholders. Hg will fully exit its shareholding in the company.

Founded in 1970 and headquartered in London, Argus serves over 11,000 customers in more than 160 countries, providing price assessments, news, analytics, consulting services, data science tools, and industry conferences to the global energy and commodities markets. Argus assessments are used as benchmarks around the world for pricing energy, transportation and other commodities. Customers rely on Argus’ prices for their most critical business operations including trading, contract negotiation, risk management and hedging, valuations and financial reporting. The company has delivered uninterrupted annual revenue growth for each of the last 40 years.

The Macfarlanes team was led by corporate and M&A partner Jessica Adam with associates Jordan Treacy-Jacobs, Jessica Tang and Elizabeth Compton. Tax advice was provided by partner Jeremy Moncrieff with associates Krishant Sen and Lawrence Parkin.