Analysis:AI fears temper interest as private equity firms weigh data company deals

NEW YORK, March 5 : Financial data provider FactSet caught the eye of Thoma Bravo and Hellman & Friedman in recent months, with both private equity firms running the numbers on a potential acquisition after AI disruption fears helped drive a 39 per cent drop in its shares over the last six months, three people famil

NEW YORK, March 5 : Financial data provider FactSet caught the eye of Thoma Bravo and Hellman & Friedman in recent months, with both private equity firms running the numbers on a potential acquisition after AI disruption fears helped drive a 39 per cent drop in its shares over the last six months, three people familiar with the matter say.

The shares of competitor Morningstar and data research firm Gartner have similarly fallen by 27.6 per cent and 29.5 per cent since early September, also raising investor interest in a potential sale in recent months, about a dozen bankers and investors said. But the sharp pullback in shares that make all three attractive takeover targets is also causing the private equity firms to reassess any potential deals, the people said, asking not to be named because the internal deliberations are private.

The selloff, which deepened after Anthropic released its latest upgrade to its Claude Cowork AI tool last month, is indiscriminately hitting big companies like Microsoft as well as accounting firms, law firms and data providers – regardless of their exposure to AI disruption. Investors worry that AI could replicate much of the advice and information they package and sell. Bankers say they can't accurately value a company if executives can't predict whether their business model will evolve with or get overtaken by AI. 

FactSet, Thoma Bravo, and H&F declined to comment while Gartner didn't respond to requests for comment.