Information Services Corporation Rises on Takeover Offers and GeologicAI Acquires Lumo Analytics to Complete Critical Minerals Sensor Stack
Highest Bid Values ISC at CAD $1 billion and GeologicAI Buys Finland’s Lumo Analytics as Demand for Critical Minerals Accelerates
Information Services Corporation Receives Four Preliminary Takeover Offers
Shortly before the holidays, news came out that Information Services Corporation (ISC) had received four non-binding takeover offers from a group of institutional investors, including Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), North Leaf Capital Partners, the Ontario Municipal Employee Retirement System (OMERS), and Queensland Investment Corp.
These offers follow ISC’s September 2025 announcement of a strategic review, in which the company stated it would explore options to maximize shareholder value. This included potential asset divestitures, acquisitions, business combinations, or a sale of the company.
The bids value the company at up to CAD $1 billion, or $58 per share. The market appeared to be positioning ahead of the story, with shares rising from $38.49 to $41.51 in the days leading up to the news. Following the news, the stock briefly traded as high as $50 before settling into a range between roughly $46 and $49.
f you’re not familiar with the business, ISC is a data provider that manages one of Canada’s largest property registers. A substantial portion of its revenue is generated through Saskatchewan’s land registry and related regulatory services. The company’s Master Service Agreement with the Government of Saskatchewan extends through 2053, providing predictable, long-duration cash flows. This stability makes ISC a natural fit for pension funds, which aim to match assets with future liabilities.
ISC has not issued any formal update regarding the reported offers or the direction of its strategic review. That said, some analysts have already noted that the strategic review will bring good value to shareholders regardless of the outcome.
With a meaningful gap between the current share price and the highest takeover offer, ISC is definitely one to keep an eye on in the months ahead. Investors should also expect continued share price volatility until greater clarity emerges around its strategic review.
GeologicAI Expands Mineral Intelligence Platform with Lumo Analytics Acquisition
GeologicAI, a Calgary-based mining technology company, has agreed to acquire Lumo Analytics, a Finland-based startup focused on identifying critical minerals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. As part of the acquisition, Lumo’s technology and team will join GeologicAI.
The deal follows GeologicAI’s CAD $61-million Series B financing round, which supported global expansion and the development of its sensing technologies, as well as its 2024 acquisition of Resource Modeling Solutions, a provider of geostatistical modelling software and services.
GeologicAI uses AI and sensors to analyze rock samples for critical minerals such as lithium, copper, and rare earth metals. The company said the acquisition of Lumo completes its suite of sensors for the critical minerals sector. Lumo has developed a scanner that uses laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to rapidly analyze the composition of drill core samples.
The technique involves directing a high-energy laser at a small area of rock, creating a short-lived plasma that emits light, revealing which elements are present. GeologicAI senior vice president of engineering Steve Buckley said Lumo has built “the most compact and efficient LIBS scanner available in the market.”
The deal comes as demand for critical minerals has intensified amid the AI data centre boom and the broader energy transition. GeologicAI founder and CEO Grant Sanden said this has contributed to a “critical minerals crisis” in the mining industry.
“To address this, we are driving a strategy of bringing together enhanced data at the source, industry-specific domain expertise, and advanced, purpose-built analytics,” Sanden said. “This acquisition represents a key step forward in our mission.”
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Looking Ahead
I shared a brief reflection on the year ahead and the forces reshaping how capital is allocated and businesses are built, along with where I’ll be continuing to develop and share these ideas through my Substack and website.
Closing Out 2025
With 2025 behind us, I wanted to wish a sincere thank you to the SureSwift Capital team for their strong collaboration and momentum over the last year. The focus has been on positioning the platform to benefit from accelerating advances in AI, while thoughtfully expanding beyond SaaS into acquiring and modernizing proven Western Canadian businesses. By applying a technology-driven, SaaS-informed operating approach across new sectors, our foundation is set for continued long-term value creation as we move into the next chapter.