• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, December 14, 2016

Ad-tech firm Neustar, which provides data and analytics to marketers, on Wednesday said it has agreed to be bought by a private investment group led by Golden Gate Capital for about $1.8 billion. Neustar valued the transaction at about $2.9 billion, including debt.

Stockholders will receive $33.50 per share in cash, a 21% premium to Tuesday’s closing price and a 45% premium to Neustar’s closing stock price on November 11 — the day before Golden Gate Capital’s disclosure of an equity position in the company.

In a release, Neustar said it has “built a robust market position around unique, hard-to-replicate data sets and the data science that provides authoritative identities, updated in real time.”

The deal is expected to close by the end of the third calendar quarter of 2017.

Shares of the company were up about 20% at $33.30 in pre-market trading on Wednesday, slightly below the offer price of $33.50 per share.