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General Atlantic Appoints Lance Uggla as CEO of BeyondNetZero

NEW YORK--( BUSINESS WIRE )--General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, today announced that it has appointed Lance Uggla as Chief Executive Officer of BeyondNetZero, the firm’s climate growth equity venture focused on supporting and scaling high-growth companies that are developing innovative solutions to meet and exceed net zero emissions targets.

Mr. Uggla is a successful entrepreneur and global business leader who most recently served as Chairman and CEO of IHS Markit, the UK-based global information company. Having founded Markit in 2003 to improve transparency and data accuracy in financial markets, Mr. Uggla grew the company both organically and through acquisition, leveraging technology advances to deliver more comprehensive and more timely information. Mr. Uggla took the company public in 2014 and jointly led the merger of equals with IHS in 2016. Revenues in 2021 were $4.7 billion, and the company employed 15,000 people. In February 2022, IHS Markit completed a merger with S&P Global that valued IHS Markit at $44 billion. Earlier in his career, Mr. Uggla held executive roles at both Toronto Dominion Bank and The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Founded in partnership with Lord John Browne, BeyondNetZero is a unique platform that combines entrepreneurial leadership, industrial expertise, investing experience, and the disciplined and proven investment approach of General Atlantic.

BeyondNetZero takes a thematic approach to identifying opportunities, focused on four central themes:

• Decarbonization – of supply chains, industrial processes and products
• Energy efficiency – solutions that contribute to energy efficiency and conservation
• Resource conservation – reducing waste and the resource-intensity of economic activity
• Emissions management – measurement, management, storage and removal of emissions

As with General Atlantic’s core investing strategy, BeyondNetZero targets high-quality, growth equity investments. To date, the venture has invested more than $400 million in three companies: 80 Acres Farms , a vertical farming company; RoadRunner , a tech-enabled recycling platform; and o9 Solutions , a software solution designed to reduce waste and make supply chains more efficient.

Bill Ford, Chairman and CEO of General Atlantic, commented: “We are incredibly excited to have Lance as part of the General Atlantic team as a driving force in our climate investing efforts. I have known Lance for over 15 years and have long respected his leadership and vision in finance and climate, and he brings a unique perspective and powerful insights on the opportunities on the road to net zero. With experts now estimating that it will require $3.5 trillion in annual investment across all sectors for us to reach net zero targets, Lance and General Atlantic’s BeyondNetZero team have a critical role to play in backing promising technologies, scaling high-quality companies that are making a climate impact now, and helping to fuel innovation and entrepreneurship focused on net zero solutions.”

“I’m delighted to join BeyondNetZero and support entrepreneurs around the world who are harnessing the power of technology to address the global climate crisis. Growth investors can play a pivotal role in advancing the tools and business models that will make the net zero transition possible, and I’m energized by the opportunity to work with Lord John Browne, our partners at General Atlantic and an incredible team of seasoned executives and climate experts who share that vision. As someone who built an intelligence platform that helps business make more informed decisions, including on environmental and sustainability matters, I’ve seen first-hand how lasting progress can be accelerated when the right resources are in place,” Mr. Uggla said. “In the months and years ahead, I look forward to building on BeyondNetZero’s momentum as we continue to identify entrepreneurs who are on the front lines of innovation in this area and partner with them to scale their solutions.”

Lord John Browne of Madingley, Co-Founder and Chairman of BeyondNetZero, and Senior Advisor to General Atlantic, commented: “It is a pleasure to welcome Lance to BeyondNetZero. Having built one of the world's most successful information companies, Lance is an excellent entrepreneur and exemplifies the kind of founder we're looking to back. His network and experience, particularly in identifying high-growth businesses and applying big data tools to the measurement and management of ESG considerations, will be critical as we build out BeyondNetZero's strategy and aim to make an important contribution to addressing global climate change."

About BeyondNetZero

The BeyondNetZero team seeks to invest in growth companies delivering innovative climate solutions and help them achieve scale. BeyondNetZero looks to identify companies that have the potential to meet and exceed net zero emissions targets, with a focus on decarbonization, energy efficiency, resource conservation and emissions management. BeyondNetZero combines General Atlantic's growth equity experience with a global team of proven climate investors, advisors and industry executives, including Lord Browne of Madingley, who serves as Chairman of BeyondNetZero. This diverse team of experts brings decades of experience in both addressing climate-focused problems and building pioneering growth companies. For more information on BeyondNetZero, please visit the website: www.beyond-net-zero.com .

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 445 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses around the world. General Atlantic currently has over $84 billion in assets under management inclusive of all products as of December 31, 2021, and more than 215 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Stamford. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com .

Mary Armstrong & Casey Gunkel [email protected]

General Atlantic hires ex-IHS Markit boss Uggla to lead climate venture

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Lance Uggla is a co-founder of BeyondNetZero and Vice Chair at General Atlantic. Before launching BeyondNetZero in 2021, Lance was Chairman and CEO at IHS Markit, the global information company, prior to its $44 billion merger with S&P Global. Lance founded Markit in 2003, took it public in 2014 and co-led its merger of equals with IHS in 2016. Earlier in his career, he held executive roles at both Toronto Dominion Bank and The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Lance sits on the Board of Directors for Mastercard, Inc., and he serves as a Trustee and honorary member at the Tate Foundation and as a Trustee of the Uggla Family Foundation. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University and his Master of Science from LSE.

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• Lance Uggla

BeyondNetZero, General Atlantic

Vice Chair, General Atlantic and Co-Founder, BeyondNetZero

Lance Uggla is Vice Chair of General Atlantic and Co-Founder of BeyondNetZero, General Atlantic's dedicated climate technology venture. Before joining BeyondNetZero in 2022, Lance was Chairman and CEO at IHS Markit, the global information company, prior to its $44 billion merger with S&P Global. Lance founded Markit in 2003, took it public in 2014 and co-led its merger of equals with IHS in 2016. Earlier in his career, he held executive roles at both Toronto Dominion Bank and The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Lance sits on the Board of Directors for Mastercard, Inc., and he serves as a Trustee and honorary member at the Tate Foundation and as a Trustee of the Uggla Family Foundation. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University and his Master of Science from LSE.

Sessions With Lance Uggla

Tuesday, 19 march, 03:10pm - 03:50pm (cst) / 19/mar/2024 08:10 pm - 19/mar/2024 08:50 pm, how to make net zero happen.

The energy transition has gained significant momentum in recent years, but the world is not yet on track to hit ambitious 2050 net-zero targets. How can the world accelerate the transition to cleaner fuels while ensuring energy affordability and accessibility? Where is investment most needed to accelerate progress? What are the key priorities for companies as they navigate the energy transition? What policies are needed from governments to achieve a just energy transition?  

• Leanne Todd
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The new climate king: Lance Uggla is applying his golden touch to companies trying to save the planet

'I can’t personally stop global warming, but I can invest in companies'

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It is an “embarrassing” story, but no story is any “good” without the pure, unvarnished, make-a-fellow-blush truth, says Lance Uggla, so he launches into his tale regardless.

The new climate king: Lance Uggla is applying his golden touch to companies trying to save the planet Back to video

Everybody, and that includes even stratospherically successful businesspeople, begin somewhere. Uggla’s start in the world of finance was the Bay Street job interview circuit, a loop that took him in the fall of 1986 from bank to bank, and eventually put him in a chair across from Mark Landau, a New Yorker who wore his tie loose at the collar and had marching orders from his superiors at Wood Gundy Inc. to hire a team in Toronto to create a Canadian market for mortgage-backed securities. It was a market, by the way, that didn’t exist at the time.

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This was an opportunity loaded with possibility, and the MBA-packing young guns interviewing for it came dressed to kill: white shirt, red tie, dark socks and black shoes polished to an exquisite shine. Several had Bay Street in their blood; their fathers, and their fathers’ fathers, had been bankers. Uggla’s father, however, worked in forestry. His home was Maple Ridge, B.C. His resumé highlighted a master of science in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics. His outfit choice was questionable. “I am in a burgundy shirt and a black leather tie in a bank,” he says. “I do not have a clue.”

But Landau had a pretty good sense the 24-year-old was different from the rest. Uggla had a salesperson’s outgoing personality, was whip-smart, good with numbers and polite in the way that Canadians tend to be. Yet what struck the American most was that he was a freethinker. “Lance had an open mind towards anything and everything, and because of that, he had an amazing knack for being able to see opportunities,” Landau, now retired, says from Arizona.

That knack certainly came in handy on Bay Street, where Landau, Uggla and his Canadian buddy from LSE, Richard Nesbitt — “the Three Musketeers,” as he refers to them — hit a home run selling mortgage-backed securities. But the guy in the burgundy shirt was destined for even more revolutionary things.

In 2003, Uggla founded Markit Ltd., a financial information and services company, in a barn in the English countryside at the beginning of the big data era. Markit brought transparency and myriad decision-making data points to the historically opaque international credit and lending markets. Banks and asset managers signed on as paying customers. Information won the day. He had hit the jackpot. “Lance is a Canadian who changed the world on a global basis in the financial sector,” says Nesbitt, who went on to become chief operating officer at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Now, the engaging, boundlessly energetic London-based Uggla — at age 60, mind you — has an even bigger goal in mind: saving the world, perhaps while potentially making another huge pile of money, as co-founder and chief executive of BeyondNetZero, a climate-investing venture under the umbrella of General Atlantic Service Co. LP, a private-equity investor that manages close to US$84 billion in assets. “I can’t personally stop global warming, but I can invest in companies, and I can accelerate those companies that are reducing emissions,” he says.

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Uggla is not the only investor thinking this way. The existential crisis of our time is the opportunity of a lifetime for some, including those with the deep pockets looking to back them. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board CEO John Graham in a recent speech said US$755 billion was spent worldwide in 2021 on the energy transition. “This is where the money is going,” says Diane-Laure Arjaliès, an associate professor at Western University’s Ivey Business School in London, Ont.

Where I am most valuable in any situation is the identification of the entrepreneur, Lance Uggla

The money pot is only going to get bigger. Annual global investment in the green energy transition will need to more than triple from current levels to US$4 trillion by 2030 to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, according to the International Energy Association. Companies have duly taken note, says Clark Savolaine, a partner at KPMG specializing in environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) strategy. These companies are incorporating emission-reductions strategies into their business models, understanding that a failure to get with the proverbial program is not merely a threat to the planet, but a potential blight on their bottom line. “ Climate change itself is going to be the great disruptor of the 21st century in a way that the internet was the great disruptor of the 20th century,” he says.

Look at it this way: 30 years ago, Jeff Bezos was just some geek in a garage with a dream to sell books online. Amazon.com Inc. today has close to 1.5 million employees and generated about US$500 billion in revenue last year. The next Bezos is presumably out there in the climate-change space, tinkering away, waiting to disrupt the economy as we know it, or else waiting to meet the right investor who believes in them. Enter Lance Uggla. “Where I am most valuable in any situation is the identification of the entrepreneur,” he says.

Uggla knows a lot about that journey. He grew what became IHS Markit Ltd. into a US$40-billion market cap giant, and then merged with an even bigger giant, S&P Global Inc., in a headline-making deal that closed in February. In other words, he now has enough money to wear whatever he darn well pleases, and on a late October afternoon in New York that would be a blue shirt, left open at the collar, and no tie. Uggla could have spent his post-merger days chasing his grandchildren around — family being his chief pursuit outside of work — but he wanted to do something “relevant around climate change.” Investing in companies with the potential to combat climate change, at scale, and working with the entrepreneurs behind them to hone their business chops appealed to his strengths.

The team at General Atlantic crunches the numbers and makes the business case for possible investments. Uggla is the tire kicker, the wizened veteran who has been there, learned from his mistakes and built a winner. His role, in part, is to shake the founder’s hand, look them in the eye to take their measure and hear what they have to say about the entrepreneurial journey. Do they have a “people agenda?” Are they creating a culture? Is the leadership team designed for growth? Are they considering going public? What, pray tell, is the overall strategic vision, and is it compelling enough, emissions-reducing enough and sound enough from an investment-growth perspective for BeyondNetZero to buy in?

Should the venture’s targeted investments — including being the lead in a recent US$260-million funding round for Sun King, a solar energy provider for off-grid homes in Africa and Asia — pan out, both Uggla and the world win. Other portfolio highlights include 80 Acres Farms, an indoor, vertical, pesticide-free food grower that employs robots and other high-tech means to achieve maximum yields, and supply chain optimizer o9 Solutions Inc., which helps clients such as Walmart Canada Corp., Nestlé SA and Caterpillar Inc. become more efficient and reduce waste.

The key for Uggla is finding and talking with those entrepreneurs who could be destined for greatness. Slipping into a hockey metaphor and dating himself somewhat, he says great players such as Brad Park, Guy Lafleur and Wayne Gretzky relish the opportunity to meet other players. Transformative sports talents are a breed apart. So, too, are entrepreneurs and Ugglas.

Uggla’s octogenarian parents, Gord and Lorraine, live in a red cedar house on a three-acre property in Maple Ridge. It has been a tough year considering B.C.’s recent drought, and a difficult stretch for Gord, whose health hasn’t been great. But that hasn’t stopped the couple from working six to 10 hours a day, seven days a week, on the property. “I don’t like the term workaholic, but we all like to work in this family,” says Gord, who turns 85 in January.

Lance, his only son, says: “My parents treat work like their hobby, and I grew up in their environment. It was never a frustration to have to work, it was an opportunity, and I think that stuck with me, because I have never gotten up and not been happy to go to work.”

My parents treat work like their hobby, and I grew up in their environment Lance Uggla

Uggla and his older sister Louise made dinner for their folks when they were teenagers, because mom and dad were busy working. If Gord was teaching a lumber-grading course on the weekend, the kids would prepare the lumber, pack the car and pull their weight, so to speak. They even helped paint the red cedar house. “Lance hasn’t changed,” Gord says.

Uggla gets home to B.C. when he can, but he calls home at least once a week, often after a nice dinner out in London, Paris or wherever he happens to be. Lorraine, a prolific baker, typically answers the phone. Mother and son will talk about food. She will fret over whether the Indian cuisine he had for dinner was too spicy. He will assure her that not all Indian food is spicy, and not to worry so much.

Decarbonizing the economy doesn’t come up in these conversations. But the real-world impacts of the climate crisis abound. In Maple Ridge, Gord’s rhubarb patch was starved for rain through September, and the elderly couple have had to relocate their bedroom to the basement to escape the oppressive heat of recent summers.

Of course, our planet’s changing weather has plenty of company in the global department of things to feel depressed about: there’s the war in Ukraine, fuel shortages in Europe, lingering global supply chain challenges, sky-high inflation , polarized politics and recession fears. But Uggla isn’t one to despair. “It is easy to focus on the negatives, but I am a person who looks toward the positive,” he says.

Part of what attracted Richard Nesbitt to Uggla when they initially met as classmates at LSE, besides him being a fellow Canadian, was his unbridled optimism. Nesbitt characterizes his younger self as someone who could look at something and see the “99 ways it could go wrong.” Uggla was “one of these guys who has an optimistic view of the world: ‘Right, we are going to work hard. It is going to get better. We are all going to do really well.’”

But even Uggla could never have predicted just how well he was going to do with IHS Markit. He went from a barn in the English countryside to the ranks of those the British press write about in their “rich lists.” (The Sunday Times pegged his fortune at a bit more than $1 billion a few years back).

The best part of having money in such vast sums has been giving it away, Uggla says, warming to the subject, and reaching for his smartphone to share a recent message he received on WhatsApp from an Uggla Family Scholarship recipient at LSE. He donated $58 million, divided more or less evenly between the London school and his Canadian alma mater, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, to establish the scholarship two years ago. It covers every expense — room, board, tuition, books and transportation — for successful applicants, who come from diverse backgrounds, show strong academic and leadership potential, and would not otherwise be able to afford a university education.

The financial component of the gift is substantial, but arguably even more valuable is getting access to the scholarship’s namesake along with his extensive global business network. In short, Uggla is committed to doing whatever he can to help these students out, assuming they hold up their end of the academic bargain, which is why they keep pinging him with questions on WhatsApp, such as: “Hi Lance. I was wondering if you had some free time to check my CV and cover letter before I send them off. Will has been helping me a lot, but I would like your opinion also.”

A student at Simon Fraser asked when they should start applying for summer jobs and what to wear. “If they are applying at the banks, guess what, I can just tell them: no burgundy shirts and black leather ties,” Uggla says, with a chuckle.

The joke is that the outfit didn’t matter in the end, because the guy with the unrefined fashion sense had a nose for opportunity, the Uggla family work ethic and an optimist’s belief that the best is yet to come. FPM

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[email protected]

The Uggla Family Foundation is a family-run foundation in its first generation of giving. Founded by Lance Uggla, father to four children, the foundation’s objective is to fund initiatives and projects that align with its values and charitable pillars providing long term benefit to the community it serves. ‍ The Uggla Family members work together to identify causes where they can create a long-lasting impact on a cause. The family wants to make commitments that last and will benefit future generations to come. As such, the Uggla Family members will endeavor to pass down and educate its members to uphold each and every commitment we make in perpetuity. ‍ Five family members are involved with the Uggla Family Foundation: Lance, Cassidy, Matthew, Riley and Kendall.

Lance Uggla

Lance Uggla is CEO of Beyond Net Zero, a climate and sustainability focused fund, which he co-founded in 2022. Prior to this Lance was chairman and CEO of IHS Markit which he founded as Markit in 2003 and took public in 2014. In 2022 he merged IHS Markit with S&P Global at a value of approximately $44 billion. Lance earned his BBA at Simon Fraser University and his MSc at the London School of Economics. He was the UK EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 and won the Outstanding Alumni Award, 2014 at Simon Fraser University. He is a significant supporter of Tate Galleries and is a Trustee and Honorary Member of Tate Foundation.

Cassidy Uggla

Matthew uggla.

Cassidy is the Director of Article 1 Productions which is focused on developing and producing content with socially relevant themes. Prior to this, Cassidy co-founded 692 Productions, a boutique production and communication agency focused on creating on impactful media and physical content as well as effective strategies for its dissemination. She read History of Art at the University of Sussex. Cassidy sits on the Development Board of the Donmar Warehouse.

Matthew works in the Uggla Family Office with a specific focus on private and public equity portfolios. Prior to this, Matthew worked in property development and investment and was responsible for a broad residential portfolio in the UK. Matthew studied at St Columbus School in St Albans and at the University of Southampton where he read Sports Management.

RILEY Uggla

Kendall Uggla manages the ESG strategies for Q-Energy, a private equity firm based in Madrid, focused on renewable energy and energy infrastructure assets, and is a member of the fundraising team.  Kendall started her career as an analyst at General Atlantic, a growth equity firm, based in London. She attended Kings College London where she earned a BA in International Relations. Kendall is strongly committed to sustainability, conservation and animal welfare. She is a board member of the UK and Merchandising Board of the Soi Dog Foundation.

Riley Uggla is the founder and creative director of the interiors and lifestyle platform, The Condo. Previous to this, in August 2018, Riley founded her first company Riley Studio, a sustainable luxury fashion brand, driven by an ethos of environmental and social responsibility. With a focus on producing high-quality seasonless pieces, the company quotes simplicity and versatility as its two design pillars. In 2019, Riley Studio was awarded the Ecosia Green Leaf and the Eco-Age Brandmark. In November 2019, the company won the Fashion Brand of the Year title in the Sustainable Lifestyle Awards.

kENDALL Uggla

The Foundation trustees include Lance Uggla, Cassidy Uggla and Riley Uggla. See Biographies Above.

Will Meldrum

Roslyn Taylor manages the Uggla Family Office and has over 25 years of financial industry experience. Previously, she was a Senior Managing Director in Mediobanca’s Alternative Asset Management Group. Roslyn worked in JPMorgan from 2001 to 2010 in both the M&A Financial Institutions and Hedge Fund Coverage Groups.  She is a board member at Wren House Infrastructure and also Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. She holds an MA from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from Georgetown University.

Will Meldrum is a consultant and board adviser with over 28 years’ experience in financial markets and information companies.  From 2005 to 2022 he worked at IHS Markit, latterly Chief of Staff responsible for, Energy Transition, Cleantech and Sustainability; Charity; Culture; and Communications.  Prior to this he was at Deutsche Bank, responsible for capital markets strategic investments. He holds an MA from Edinburgh University and MBA from London Business School.

Roslyn Taylor

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Interview: Markit chief Lance Uggla - 'How I crunched the numbers to create a £500m City fortune'

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Lance Uggla has had a lot on his mind. The former credit trader has spent weeks touring the story of his financial data company Markit around would-be investors.

A week ago, its shares began trading in a flotation that values the firm, founded 11 years ago in a barn in St Albans, at $4.8 billion (£2.8 billion) and the Canadian’s own stake at about £500 million.

Now Markit, which crunches the price of derivatives and bonds, is better-placed to compete with long-established rivals Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg.

The shaven-headed Uggla — whose personal wealth brackets him alongside the City’s other self-made men, Michael Spencer and Peter Cruddas — is suddenly in the limelight.

Yet his biggest concern when we meet for breakfast this week is that no one should think Markit is about to quit London. Uggla might have chosen to li st the shares on the Nasdaq exchange in New York, but the company is staying put.

“I could easily have gone home to Canada or gone to America [to set up] but I think this is a really vibrant market,” he says, demolishing a plate of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with vigour.

“For the companies that we will be measured against, other financial, information and technology companies, the US market gives us the strongest currency.”

By that, he means Markit’s shares stand a good chance of being rated higher on Nasdaq — good news for the dozens of staff who have become paper millionaires, as well as handy for further acquisitions that have characterised the firm’s growth path.

Uggla, 52, jetted in last Friday from the Nasdaq launch, which was attended by a representative from every one of Markit’s 22 offices, his parents who live in Vancouver and his proudly tweeting daughter Riley, a fashion student and new addition to the cast of reality show Made in Chelsea.

The trick now is to keep newly enriched staff engaged. “I haven’t seen any Lamborghinis,” he says with a laugh. “People are naturally motivated to work and achieve so you have to create the right environment for them to want to stay.”

Rather than dealing with departures, Markit is hiring: building up offices in Manchester and Edinburgh as well as adding to its 800 staff in the City.

Anyone doubting Uggla’s ambition was woken up three years ago when Markit unsuccessfully bid against the London Stock Exchange in the auction of clearing house LCH.Clearnet.

Another moment to sit up and take notice came when Temasek, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, took a 10% stake in the business last year. But Uggla’s boldest move was starting up in the first place.

“It was a period of time when Enron had collapsed, the dotcom bubble was booming and I was 39, almost 40, thinking: what’s next? It really was just a moment in time when you think the risk and reward of something new is worthwhile.”

At the time, credit markets were opaque to the point that traders had to sift reams of data themselves. Markit’s success came in collating that data and selling it back to banks and asset managers.

“By making available to many, the concept is that volumes will increase, markets will grow and even though bid-offer spreads will decline the overall outcome will be positive.”

From pricing credit default swaps, it has expanded into numerous asset classes.

Its ABX.HE index of the sub-prime mortgage market was required viewing during the financial crisis and its Purchasing Managers’ Indices signal growth in the manufacturing, construction and services sectors ahead of the official numbers. Markit has 3,000 customers, out of which 100 provide trading data and it processes 80,000 derivatives a day.

To get going, Uggla had to convince a dozen investment banks to share their data with him in exchange for an equity stake down the line. “Within a week of each other, they all became shareholders,” he says of Barclays, Bank of America and others, which held 50% of the business early on, dropping to a third post-float. Being the boss meant Uggla could work where he wanted.

“The barn was quite close to my house — it wasn’t in my back garden. It was just an opportunity to work closer to home and spend more time with my children,” he says.

That was fine until Markit really took off and Uggla transplanted the firm back to the City to be nearer clients.

Now his three growth prongs are transparency, helping institutions with risk and reducing costs from increased regulation. New regulation means a greater proportion of derivatives trades are being forced through clearing houses, which Markit can connect clients to. It also values clients’ portfolios on their behalf.

“Those channels for growth are very buoyant; we are not going up against a brick wall.”

But the company is strictly pre-trade and post-trade — you won’t see it diving into the kind of dark pools that have got Barclays in trouble this week.

A 2009 US Justice Department probe into possible anti-trust violations in the credit default swap market that centred on the control of prices turned up nothing.

One thing it is not going to get into supplying its own trading screens to clients, like Reuters and Bloomberg. Markit provides information to both of them. Surprisingly, neither has tried to acquire his firm: “Nobody ever called me.”

But they do work together. Markit is developing something called Collaboration with Reuters — not exactly a messaging platform but something that “allows messaging platforms to connect together through a single directory”.

Uggla first lived in London when he studied at the London School of Economics in 1986. That time, he returned to Toronto. He came back in 1995 when Toronto Dominion Bank appointed him to run its global credit portfolio, heading up Europe and Asia.

He is still evangelical about London’s appeal: “For non-dollar activities, it is the financial centre and as you look into Asia from here, Eastern Europe and Africa, this is the focal point. I don’t see that lessening. Planes down to Africa from here are full of bankers looking for opportunities to expand and work further afield.”

He has even taken British citizenship. “I just felt this was home. It wasn’t a hard decision. My kids have all studied here.”

The benefits of staying local are obvious as Uggla pays the bill and exits the busy City café. Don’t be surprised if he dips into London’s burgeoning fintech scene to snap up the next big thing.

Life and Times

CV milestones

1986 CIBC global head of fixed income

1995 TD Securities global head of credit trading and head of Europe and Asia

2003 Markit founder and chief executive

Personal life

Three daughters and a son. Separated. Relaxes by skiing and following Arsenal.

Best advice I've received

“My first boss told me that your most successful attributes don’t come from studying at university, they are things that we all have: good manners and a work ethic.”

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Lance Uggla, Markit’s $10-billion man, is halfway there

This article was published more than 9 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Markit CEO Lance Uggla For the Globe and Mail/The Globe and Mail

Seven years ago, when I last interviewed Lance Uggla, I found him cocky, almost overbearing, even if I loved his energy and enthusiasm. The Canadian founder and chief executive officer of Markit Ltd., the financial information and services company that is often (though not quite accurately) described as the next Bloomberg or Thomson Reuters, was pumped up by Markit's success and was predicting glories to come.

At the time, an old-fashioned easel, like the ones used by kindergarten teachers a generation ago, was the dominant feature in his slick London office. The easel held a big piece of paper on which "10" was scrawled. I asked him what the number represented. "Ten billion dollars," he said without hesitation. "It's our target valuation, where we think we can be. I'd be disappointed if we were less than that in five years time."

He was off by a few billion, in the wrong direction. Markit's initial public offering last June on the Nasdaq exchange valued the company at $4.3-billion (U.S.). Today, after a galloping bull run, it's worth about $5-billion. Not a bad return in less than a year, but still nowhere near his $10-billion call.

Over breakfast in late March at George, a private club in Mayfair, west London, where he is a member, Mr. Uggla brought up the prediction he had made. "I reread your old article and felt like I really underperformed," he said, laughing.

Still, $5-billion is no laughing matter for a company that began life in 2003 in a barn in little St. Albans, England, with $17-million in startup capital from Canada's TD Securities and 10 employees. Today, it has more than 3,500 employees in 10 countries, including Canada, and annual revenue of more than $1-billion. Markit may not be huge compared with the industry leaders, such as Thomson Reuters, whose stock market value is $32-billion, but the Markit brand has already injected itself into the DNA of the world's financial centres. Markit economists are routinely quoted in the business press and its purchasing managers index – PMI – has become one of the most widely followed indicators of momentum, or lack thereof, in the real economy.

Mr. Uggla insists the $10-billion figure that he had set as a target when I interviewed him in late 2007 was purposely inflated.

"My whole management style is to set audacious goals and work really hard to reach them," he said. "I knew that, even if we got only halfway there, we would be outperforming our peers. So, seven years ago, I used the $10-billion figure to motivate the team."

Mr. Uggla seems to have changed a lot since we met in the heady prefinancial-crisis days. While still affable and enthusiastic, he has dialled back his in-your-face demeanour to the point that he seemed rather relaxed. Maybe, at 53 and at the helm of a company that vaulted from startup to established player in less than a decade, he has less to prove. Maybe he has found some peace five years after he and wife, Julie-Anne, the mother of his four children, separated (Mr. Uggla is single).

He is still chatty, but not the turbo-charged motor mouth of his 40s. He even used self-deprecating humour, a nod to his modest Canadian background: "When you lose it up top, you add it somewhere else," he said, rubbing a beard evidently trimmed at about five-days' growth.

Mr. Uggla is prone to throwing about the strange argot of the financial products world. Customers are "customer sets" and recruiting clients is "onboarding clients." If Markit has not made him a silver-tongued orator, it sure has made him wealthy, but not ostentatiously so.

His George club membership gives him access to the discreet haunt of the FTSE-100 set, London's top hedge fund managers and political power brokers. Its members include Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, the world's biggest advertising agency, and it is where, famously, James Murdoch in 2009 told British Prime Minister David Cameron that the Murdoch newspapers would switch their allegiance back to the Conservatives from Labour. Mr. Uggla drives a Range Rover, is restoring a 1967 Aston Martin DB6 Volante and takes heli-skiing holidays in some of the world's most remote and dangerous mountain areas, such as the state of Himachal Pradesh in India's far north.

At breakfast, which began at 7:30 a.m. on a sunny, cool London day in late March, Mr. Uggla wore a Savile Row blue suit, light blue shirt and no tie. While he fit in perfectly with the Conservative and small-C conservative George club patrons around him, I wondered whether his wild side would find a more sympathetic hearing at a boozy, buzzy Soho club, like the Groucho. In fact, his tipple is tequila and he was revving up for a monster party. "In my free time, I like to be with my children and I'm on my way to Vegas for my son's 21st birthday with 10 of his friends," he said, ignoring my suggestion that he watch The Hangover for inspiration before he leaves.

Mr. Uggla ordered poached eggs and back bacon – "hold the spinach" – and brown toast. I decided to live dangerously by going for the hybrid eggs Benedict, featuring ham on one bun, crispy bacon on the other. We both drank copious amounts of coffee even though it tasted no better than the McDonald's version.

Markit is an odd beast that operates in the pre- and post-trade world, filling niches that no bank, hedge fund or securities dealer apparently knew existed before Mr. Uggla whipped up his little financial services revolution a dozen years ago. Markit's debut product was a winner. Using data gleaned from a fleet of credit dealers, it built a credit default swap (CDS) valuation service.

At the time, prices for financial exotica, such as CDSs, asset-backed securities (ABSs) and over-the-counter derivatives were hard to get. Any services that offered transparent, reliable pricing could be sold at fat profit margins, and Markit's were. The genius of the proposition was that Markit's original backers were banks, among them Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Merrill Lynch. As owners, the banks had every incentive to supply the credit-pricing information that Markit needed for its databases. At the same time, the banks would, as owners, have no incentive to create competitors to Markit. They would also be high-paying clients.

Mr. Uggla was born in Burnaby, B.C., the son of a peripatetic sawmill manager who now lives in Maple Ridge, just outside Vancouver. Mr. Uggla worked in the sawmills when he was a young man, doing menial jobs. "I remember working really hard and people telling me to slow down and relax – this is an eight-hour job," he said.

Working slowly was definitely not his style. Ambitious and driven, he studied business at Simon Fraser University, received a master's degree in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics and landed at Wood Gundy (later CIBC World Markets) in 1986, rising to head of global sales and trading. In 1995, he crossed the street to TD Securities, where he was responsible for all the foreign debt capital markets business.

At both of the Canadian banks, he gained a reputation as a self-starter with entrepreneurial flair. "I've done a lot of entrepreneurial jobs," he said. "I was a Tin Man between high school and university, knocking on doors selling aluminum siding. Imagine in British Columbia, a province of timber, putting aluminum siding on your house. In those types of direct-selling jobs, you have to be a self starter."

In London, he ran TD's global credit trading operations and began to build a database on credit pricing (TD was one of the first players in the credit derivatives market). Don Wright, the former CEO of TD Securities, now CEO of Toronto's Winnington Capital, was Mr. Uggla's boss at TD and said in a 2007 interview that Mr. Uggla was the best natural salesman and go-getter he had met. "You never had to kick Lance in the butt," he said. "He just goes by himself. He's an unusual guy – either you love him or you hate him."

As the database expanded, Mr. Uggla seized upon the idea of using it to launch a standalone company, one that he would control. TD agreed to come in as a 50-50 partner, but only if Mr. Uggla recruited other banks as partners. By 2003, Markit was on its way, with the banks owning about 70 per cent of the equity (after last year's IPO, their position fell to less than a third).

Today, Markit is a juggernaut in three main businesses: Information (such as CDS pricing); Solutions (primarily Web-hosting services); and Processing, a huge growth area that helps banks and other clients streamline their work flows, such as processing foreign-exchange trades and loan settlement, and meet ever-tougher compliance regulations.

Mr. Uggla loves the regulation frenzy. "Regulation is a tailwind for us, the opportunity comes from the new compliance burdens placed on the industry," he said. "We can provide efficiencies through managed services, usually a platform like KYC [know your client]. It's easy for us to do the same job once for many clients who are all collecting the same information over and over again."

Next up for Markit? Buying market indexes from the banks. They're high-profile, high-margin businesses that can be easily licensed to the exchange-traded funds market. Mr. Uggla will not confirm or deny rumours that he is bidding as much as $1-billion for Barclays' vast index business, which includes the well-known U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.

Mr. Uggla professes endless love for his job, even though its make-it-up-as-you-go days are long gone. Markit is a big business and inevitably will become less nimble as it expands and answers to public shareholders. So would he sell and start all over again?

Forget it, he says. "We've got lots to do," he said, beaming. "We've got to reach the goal on the chart, that $10-billion you wrote about."

In other words, Markit is only half the size he wants it to be.

------------------------------------------------------------

Lance Uggla, Founder and CEO of Markit Ltd.

Place of birth: Burnaby, B.C.

Education: Simon Fraser University and London School of Economics

Family: Separated from Julie-Anne, mother of their four children, who range in from 17 to 22

Book: The Black Count , by Tom Reiss.

Film: Pulp Fiction

Play: Uncle Vanya , by Anton Chekhov

Holiday: "Anywhere exotic in India, like Goa."

Vice: Tequila

Tailors: Richard James and Alexander McQueen

Everyday car: Range Rover

Collector's car: 1967 Aston Martin DB6 Volante

Sport: Back-country skiing

Artists: Damien Hurst, Richard Prince, Susie Hamilton, Rirkrit Tiravanija

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Millionaire's daughter and gender neutral clothing designer Riley Uggla who appeared on Made in Chelsea marries her businessman beau in lavish ceremony at Blenheim Palace complete with THREE dresses

• Millionaire Lance Uggla's daughter Riley married her boyfriend over weekend
• The former Made in Chelsea star donned three separate outfits for the occasion
• She and her businessman partner welcomed their first child Mason in 2019

By Jessica Green For Mailonline

Published: 12:31 EDT, 21 March 2022 | Updated: 12:39 EDT, 21 March 2022

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The daughter of a millionaire who recently sold his billion-pound business has got married in spectacular fashion.

Riley Uggla, who starred in the seventh season of  Made In Chelsea , has married her businessman boyfriend Alex Rimmer in a lavish ceremony at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

Her Canadian-born father is Lance Uggla, founder of information provider IHS Markit, which he sold in 2020 for $39billion - leaving him to reportedly pocket more than $100million in the S&P Global deal, according to BNN Bloomberg .

The bride, who shares two children with her now-husband and founded Riley Studio, a gender-neutral fashion brand, stunned in three ensembles during her big day, which featured former MIC co-star Lucy Watson as a bridesmaid.

The daughter (pictured) of a millionaire who recently sold his billion-pound business has got married in spectacular fashion

Riley Uggla (pictured with MIC star Lucy Watson), who starred in the seventh season of Made In Chelsea, has married her businessman boyfriend Alex Rimmer in a lavish ceremony at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire

Her Canadian-born father is Lance Uggla, founder of information provider IHS Markit, which he sold in 2020 for $39billion - leaving him to reportedly pocket more than $100million in the S&P Global deal, according to BNN Bloomberg. Pictured, the bride and groom dancing

The bride (left), who shares two children with her now-husband, stunned in three ensembles during her big day, which featured former MIC co-star Lucy Watson as a bridesmaid

The bride and groom appeared to exchange their vows at the end of a long white aisle, underneath glittering gold chandeliers, and surrounded by their friends and family

Looking effortlessly elegant, the bride opted for a billowing wedding dress, featuring cut-out details, as well as a statement sweet-heart neckline.

With her blonde hair pulled back into a stylish up-do, Riley donned a fashionable veil, boasting white edging. Her long-sleeved dress was teamed with a bouquet of white flowers. 

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For her second outfit of the day, the mother-of-two sported a strapless white gown, which she sported during her first dance. 

Later, when throwing the bouquet to her loved ones, she opted for a puff sleeve number, featuring a silky skirt. 

Later, when throwing the bouquet to her loved ones, the bride opted for a puff sleeve number, featuring a silky skirt

Meanwhile, her bridesmaids sported bronze long-sleeved maxi gowns with demure necklines

The bridesmaids held white flowers and kept their hair in neat buns to match the sophisticated theme of the day. Pictured, the table arrangements

Looking effortlessly elegant, the bride opted for a billowing wedding dress, featuring cut-out details, as well as a statement sweet-heart neckline

Meanwhile, her bridesmaids sported bronze long-sleeved maxi gowns with demure necklines.

They held white flowers and kept their hair in neat buns to match the sophisticated theme of the day.

The bride and groom appeared to exchange their vows at the end of a long white aisle, underneath glittering gold chandeliers, and surrounded by their friends and family. 

In snaps shared to social media by their loved ones, the couple were seen also treating guests to a magical firework display at the palace.

For her second outfit of the day, the mother-of-two sported a strapless white gown, which she sported during her first dance

With her blonde hair pulled back into a stylish up-do, Riley donned a fashionable veil, boasting white edging. Her long-sleeved dress was teamed with a bouquet of white flowers.

In snaps shared to social media by their loved ones, the couple were seen also treating guests to a magical firework display at the palace

A white three-tier cake was also displayed during the reception, featuring dainty floral artwork.

Blenheim Palace is the UK's only non-royal palace, the family seat of the Duke of Marlborough, a World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

It's been used as decor for many successful films, from Harry Potter to the Favourite and James Bond. 

Riley and her businessman partner welcomed their first child Mason in 2019, followed by a daughter, Elle, in July 2021.

Blenheim Palace (pictured) has been used as decor for many successful films, from Harry Potter to the Favourite and James Bond

Riley and her businessman partner welcomed their first child Mason in 2019, followed by a daughter, Elle, in July 2021. Pictured left, the wedding car, and the party, right

Two of the bride's bridesmaids pose up a storm while wearing the elegant dresses during the big day

Blenheim Palace (pictured) is the UK's only non-royal palace, the family seat of the Duke of Marlborough, a World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Winston Churchill

Her father, Mr Uggla, who grew up in western Canada before moving to the UK in the mid-1980s to study accounting and finance at the London School of Economics, founded IHS Markit in a barn in St Albans.

In 2014, its shares began trading in a flotation that valued the firm at $4.8billion (£2.8billion), according to the Evening Standard .

But six years later, it was sold to S&P Global for $39billion, with Mr Uggla telling FT : ‘Nobody has forced me. It’s just too exciting.’

In April 2020, Mr Uggla used $24million in IHS Markit shares to start a foundation focused on education and the arts.

He has also helped with a school his former wife, Julie-Anne, built in Zambia and is a trustee and honorary member of the Tate art gallery foundation.

Beautiful Blenheim: England's princely dwelling where Sir Winston Churchill was born and raised 

Built between 1705 and 1722 to celebrate victory over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession, the magnificent Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, is steeped in history.

Designed by John Vanbrugh, it was presented by the English nation to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops

It has been entertaining Kings, Queens and foreign leaders for centuries and still attracts about 500,000 visitors every year.

It is best known as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, who was born at the palace in 1874 and proposed to his wife Clementine there.

Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire was designated as an UNESCO world heritage site in 1987

He is buried at St Martin's Church in Bladon, on the edge of the estate.

The garden at Blenheim is one of the most historically significant landscapes of Capability Brown, created at what is widely regarded as the pinnacle of his career.

In 1874, when Sir Winston's father Lord Randolph Churchill saw the stunning landscape for the first time, he declared it to be 'the finest view in England'.

Its grandeur registered even with Hitler. According to wartime lore, he planned to move in after invading England and ordered the Luftwaffe not to bomb it. Blenheim is the only non-royal country house in England to hold the title of palace.

Share or comment on this article: Millionaire's daughter Riley Uggla dons three different dresses to marry her businessman boyfriend

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Financial data empires often bear the name of their architect. However, while Markit does not bear the name of its co-founder Lance Uggla , the UK company’s rise over the past decade is closely associated with the enthusiastic 51-year-old Canadian.

Mr Uggla was in the spotlight this week as Markit announced plans to take on Bloomberg, the industry incumbent in instant messaging, backed by eight of the world’s largest investment banks. Behind this most modern of communications tools through which traders exchange daily news, gossip and sentiment lies a heated battle with data providers over rising bank technology costs.

Breaking that stranglehold will be a challenge for Markit. However Mr Uggla, who cites UK computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee as an inspiration, has already made Markit one of the world’s biggest providers of financial information.

His efforts were recognised last year as Ernst & Young’s UK Entrepreneur of the Year . The judges noted Mr Uggla was an “impressive individual who has created a strong culture at his company”.

The company emerged in 2001 when Mr Uggla was then global head of credit trading at TD Securities in London. However, he saw it was difficult to find accurate prices for the fast-growing but opaque market for credit default swaps.

Mr Uggla recognised other brokers were in the same position. He quit to run an independent company providing that information to the rest of the market. In the early days the company was run from a barn at Mr Uggla’s home in St Albans, a London commuter town known for its Roman ruins.

Markit has long since outgrown its beginnings. Its 3,000 employees now oversee pricing and valuation of difficult-to-obtain financial data, and processing and risk management of over-the-counter derivatives.

That risk-taking spirit remains with Mr Uggla, who also likes to seek out difficult ski slopes in his native Canada. He wants Markit “to be the best of the largest” financial information companies. Two years ago he tried unsuccessfully to buy LCH.Clearnet , the clearing house, losing out to the London Stock Exchange Group .

Plans include taking on anti-money laundering and customer background checks for banks, a necessary but costly part of daily banking operations.

His success has prompted frequent speculation that Markit may seek an initial public offering, although he has long said he feels under no pressure to do so and no decision has been made.

Nevertheless there has been a rebalancing of shareholders in the past six months. The investment banks that he sold his data to have become shareholders in Markit but some sold down their stake to Temasek , the Singaporean wealth fund. The fund now has a stake of about 10 per cent, and Markit has a valuation of about $5bn.

Only in May Mr Uggla sought to play down the IPO talk. “Every year we look carefully at all options available to the company. We regularly consult bankers and other advisers to help us understand our best alternatives and sometimes this can generate rumours or speculation about our future plans.”

Should that change, London would probably vie with New York for Markit’s business. A New York listing might suit the company but could provoke mixed feelings for Mr Uggla. His ties to London run deep. The UK capital is not only Markit’s headquarters but his family has long been settled there and Mr Uggla holds an MSc from the London School of Economics. It is also home to his beloved Arsenal football team.

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