By Mikaila Adams
Oil & Gas Financial Journal

Recognizing the ‘mission-critical’ component of geophysics to the upstream oil and gas industry, IHS Inc. has plans to acquire geophysical and geological interpretation software provider Seismic Micro-Technology Inc. (SMT), a portfolio company of Technology Crossover Ventures and JMI Equity, for $500 million in an all cash transaction.

Geophysical and geological interpretation software, a key tool used by oil and gas operators in reservoir engineering in terms of evaluating potential reservoirs and planning field development projects, will boost IHS’s ability to serve the energy industry.

In a statement, Jerre Stead, IHS chairman and CEO commented: “The acquisition of SMT will increase the ability of IHS to offer mission-critical geoscience software and data products to customers in our largest end-market, energy, and give SMT customers the ability to seamlessly access the critical oil and gas information and insight products of IHS.”

Houston-based SMT has six international offices and its KINGDOM software for seismic interpretation, modeling, and analytics is used by oil and gas operators on a global basis.

IHS (NYSE: IHS) is an information and analytics company serving the energy, capital goods, government, transportation and materials industries. IHS offers information products that focus on how its customers use information in their daily workflows. IHS is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, with offices globally.

Simmons & Company served as exclusive financial advisor to SMT in this transaction.