Verisk Analytics, Inc. is an American multinational data analytics and risk assessment firm based in Jersey City, New Jersey, with customers in insurance, natural resources, financial services, government, and risk management sectors. The company uses proprietary data sets and industry expertise to provide predictive analytics and decision support consultations in areas including fraud prevention, actuarial science, insurance coverage, fire protection, catastrophe and weather risk, and data management.
The company was privately held until an initial public offering on October 6, 2009, which raised $1.9 billion for several of the large insurance companies that were its primary shareholders, making it the largest IPO in the United States for the year. The firm did not raise any funds for itself in the IPO, which was designed to provide an opportunity for the firm's casualty and property insurer owners to sell some or all of their holdings and to provide a market price for those retaining their shares. The 2009 IPO was priced at $22 per share for 85.25 million shares owned by its shareholders, including American International Group, The Hartford and Travelers, making it the largest since the 2008 IPO for Visa Inc. In an action described by investment research company Morningstar as a "vote of confidence" in Verisk, Berkshire Hathaway was the only company among the firm's largest shareholders that did not sell any of its stock in the October 2009 IPO.
