Charles River Development, provider of the Charles River Investment Management Solution (Charles River IMS), announced today a definitive agreement to be acquired by State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT). The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The acquisition will combine Charles River’s front and middle office Software as a Service (SaaS) capabilities with State Street’s extensive front, middle and back office capabilities to deliver a comprehensive end-to-end interoperable Buy-Side platform.

“The synergy between our firms provides the market with a major new differentiating offering that will change the way the buy side operates,” said Peter Lambertus, CEO of Charles River. “State Street’s commitment to investment in R&D is also a big plus. In today’s SaaS technology environment, Charles River’s hosted platform provides for up-to-date software, data provisioning, management, open integration and optimal operations which relieves clients of the cost and burden of on-premises operations. These SaaS capabilities will play a major role in the overall end-to-end offering.”

The platform integration capabilities will allow clients to use different supplier components and services as desired. Charles River will remain committed to supporting its clients as it does today while offering the extended end-to-end capabilities.