News Corp has announced it is to buy Oil Price Information Service in a deal it says will provide “new pillars of growth” for Dow Jones.

OPIS’ services are focussed to refiners, wholesalers and retailers, traders and petrochemical companies as well as others including financial institutions, which News says provide a growing, high margin, subscription-based offering it expects to “transform” the Dow Jones professional information business.

The agreement will see News acquire OPIS and related assets from S&P Global and IHS Markit. It will become part of Dow Jones’ professional information business, which includes Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Newswires and Factiva. Its revenue base that is almost 100 per cent digital, 95 per cent recurring, and operates at approximately better than 50 per cent adjusted EBITDA, with modest Capex requirements, News says.

The cash transaction is subject to “customary adjustments”, with an expected tax benefit of $180 million as part of the transaction.

“Founded in 1977, OPIS is a global industry standard for benchmark and reference pricing and news and analytics for the oil, natural gas liquids and biofuels industries, and a growing provider of insights and analytics in renewables and carbon pricing,” the company said. “At its core, OPIS provides end-to-end pricing and analytics information to the energy industry from the refinery to the retailer.”

With the acquisition, Dow Jones expects to also provide pricing and news and analytics for the coal, mining and metals end markets through McCloskey, among other brands. In addition, Dow Jones “will be well poised to leverage the global transition to renewables and the growth opportunities resulting from emerging energy categories like hydrogen, carbon credits, biofuels, LNG, solar, water and electric vehicles,” it said in a statement.

“OPIS will also help Dow Jones in its goal of building the leading global business news and information platform for professionals.”

Dow Jones chief executive Almar Latour said the two together could be a leading provider of energy and renewable information, “combining trusted news, data, analytics, events and an interconnected professional community.

“OPIS’s expertise in commodities, energy and renewables aligns with Dow Jones’ focus on building deeper specialisation in specific verticals around valuable content.”

Headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, OPIS also has offices in Mexico, the UK, France, Romania and Singapore, and employs about 400 globally.