TRANSUNION FINALIZING $3.1 BILLION DEAL FOR NEUSTAR’

TransUnion, one of the three major U.S. credit bureaus, is in final negotiations to buy Neustar, a closely-held firm providing data analysis and cybersecurity services to a range of industries and Internet platforms, for $3.1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The sale could be finalized imminently, insiders told the WSJ.
The deal would help TransUnion widen its scope now that many companies assess customers’ credit by other means; buy-now-pay-later apps often dispense with credit reports; and the Biden administration is considering proposing a federal consumer credit agency.
Through recent, smaller acquisitions, TransUnion has expanded into insurance and fraud prevention, a growing need as more consumers shop online.
TransUnion paid more than $1 billion in 2018 to take over Callcredit Information Group, a consumer credit and identity protection business.
Equifax, another of the three credit bureaus, bought Kount Inc. earlier this year. Kount offers fraud prevention and identity protection using artificial intelligence.
Equifax suffered a security breach in 2017 that leaked private information on as many as half the residents of the entire U.S.