Under the terms of the transaction, each outstanding share of RiskMetrics common stock not held by MSCI, RiskMetrics or any of their subsidiaries has been converted into the right to receive a combination of 0.1802 of a share of MSCI's Class A common stock and $16.35 in cash, without interest.

"Today, we take another significant step forward in our ambition to become the leading provider of mission-critical investment decision support tools to investors globally," said Henry Fernandez, Chairman and CEO of MSCI. "The addition of RiskMetrics greatly expands our capabilities in the high growth, high margin business of multi-asset class risk management analytics. Recent events continue to demonstrate the importance of managing risk in today's financial markets and our clients will benefit from our company's expanded product range and enhanced risk management offerings."

"MSCI now has annualized revenues of more than $750 million and more than 2,000 employees worldwide. Our increased scale and scope will enable us to invest more in developing new products and capabilities for our clients which should, in turn, lead to additional growth for our shareholders," added Mr. Fernandez.

In conjunction with the acquisition of RiskMetrics Group, Inc., MSCI also announced that it has raised $1.375 billion of debt financing, including a $1.275 billion term loan and a $100 million undrawn revolving credit facility. The additional capital was used to fund the acquisition of RiskMetrics as well as to repay all prior outstanding terms loans of both MSCI and RiskMetrics.