Financial information provider Markit files for U.S. IPO-Reuters

(Reuters) – Financial information services company Markit Ltd filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $750 million in an initial public offering of common stock.

Markit, which competes with Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters Corp, counts Bank of America Corp, Deutsche Bank AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and private equity firm General Atlantic among major stockholders.

These banks also use Markit’s financial data and trade processing services primarily for the credit market.

The London-based company received a $500 million investment from Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd in 2013, which valued Markit at about $5 billion.

Markit, founded by Canadian Lance Uggla in 2001, reported a 10 percent rise in revenue to $947.9 million for the year ended Dec.31. Profit attributable to equity holders rose 12 percent to $139.4 million, during the period.

The company provides pricing and reference data, indices, valuation services. It has more than 3,000 institutional customers globally, including banks, hedge funds, asset managers and other financial institutions.

Reuters had previously reported Markit was looking to raise more than $1 billion from its U.S. listing.

Bofa Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup and Credit Suisse are among underwriters to the IPO, Markit told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus on Monday.

The company did not reveal how many shares it planned to sell or the exchange on which it intends to list.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.