The distribution date is July 1, 2026. That is when S&P Global expects to complete the distribution of Mobility Global shares to shareholders. Holders of S&P Global common stock as of the June 15, 2026 record date are expected to receive one share of Mobility Global common stock for every one share of S&P Global common stock. Mobility Global is expected to trade on the NYSE under MBGL, with when-issued trading expected to begin around June 26 under MBGL WI. S&P Global expects its own shares to trade regular-way and ex-distribution during that period, while Mobility trades when-issued. The Mobility Global spinoff is expected to be tax free to S&P Global shareholders. S&P Global announced the separation approval and trading mechanics on May 21.
When we last looked at S&P Global’s planned Mobility spinoff, the question was mostly about fit. CARFAX, Polk, automotiveMasterMind, and Market Scan did not quite belong next to credit ratings, benchmarks, market intelligence, and commodity data.
Now we can move beyond that vague outline and dig into the details: what is Mobility worth as a standalone company with roughly $2 billion of debt, and what is the right price for the higher-quality S&P Global that remains?
Mobility Weighed Down By New Debt As S&P Global Takes The Cash
Mobility Global is not being sent out with a blank balance sheet.
As we have seen with many spinoffs, new debt is being sold against the spinoff with the proceeds largely going to the parent as a parting gift.
Ahead of the separation, Mobility priced a $2 billion private offering of senior notes and entered into a $500 million senior unsecured revolving credit facility. The notes are expected to close on May 29, 2026, subject to customary conditions.
The notes come in three pieces: $650 million due 2029 at 5.050%, $650 million due 2031 at 5.450%, and $700 million due 2036 at 6.050%. That works out to roughly $111 million of annual interest expense before taxes.
The proceeds are mostly not staying at Mobility. S&P Global says Mobility will use the net proceeds to fund a cash payment to S&P Global as consideration for the transfer of certain assets, liabilities, and entities, with remaining proceeds used for separation fees, expenses, and general corporate purposes. Until certain separation-related conditions are satisfied, the proceeds will sit in escrow for noteholders. S&P Global announced the pricing of the notes on May 19.
Mobility Global- A Quality Business That Just Didn’t Fit In
Mobility Global is not a hot potato that needed to be dumped. Mobility Global includes several recognizable automotive-data businesses. CARFAX is the brand ordinary consumers know. Polk is familiar to people who have spent time around auto data. automotiveMastermind and Market Scan sit closer to the dealer, marketing, and retailing side of the business. It is an automotive information business with subscription revenue, high margins, and data assets that are difficult to easily or cheaply recreate.
Mobility’s Investor Day materials outline the business and the opportunity. For 2025, Mobility reported about $1.75 billion of revenue, $711 million of adjusted EBITDA, and $461 million of free cash flow. For the twelve months ended March 31, 2026, adjusted EBITDA was about $724 million. The company also presents the business as more than 80% subscription revenue. S&P Global hosted Mobility Global’s Investor Day on May 12.
Those are good numbers, though bear in mind that free cash flow will be reduced due to new debt.
A Rough Valuation For Mobility Global
The simplest way to frame Mobility is with an EV/EBITDA range.
Using LTM adjusted EBITDA of about $724 million, gross debt of $2.0 billion, and management’s expected cash balance of about $150 million, net debt is roughly $1.85 billion. That is about 2.6x net leverage.
The distribution is one Mobility share for each S&P Global share. Using S&P Global’s recent market capitalization of roughly $124.3 billion and stock price around $417.60, the implied share count is about 298 million. That gives us a rough denominator for MBGL per-share value.
| EV / EBITDA | Enterprise Value | Less Net Debt | Equity Value | Approx. MBGL / Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12x | $8.7B | $1.85B | $6.8B | ~$23 |
| 14x | $10.1B | $1.85B | $8.3B | ~$28 |
| 16x | $11.6B | $1.85B | $9.7B | ~$33 |
| 18x | $13.0B | $1.85B | $11.2B | ~$38 |
At 12x EBITDA, Mobility is roughly a low-$20s stock. At 14x to 16x, it is roughly a high-$20s to low-$30s stock. To get much above that, investors probably need to treat Mobility as a premium data-and-analytics company, not merely an automotive-exposed carveout with leverage.
The free-cash-flow number needs some care. Mobility presents $461 million of 2025 free cash flow, but the public-company version will carry the new debt, interest expense, transition costs, and other separation-related items. The business throws off cash, but the equity cash flow is not quite as clean as the pre-spin headline number.
That said, this is not a broken company, or a story dependent on hope. The case for Mobility is that it already has strong brands, recurring revenue, and attractive margins. The debate is about price, cyclicality, leverage, and how investors value the business.
What S&P Global Keeps
The parent that remains after the spin is still S&P Global.
That means Ratings, Market Intelligence, Commodity Insights, Indices, and the other pieces that fit the S&P Global identity much more naturally than automotive retail and vehicle-history data. The retained company should be cleaner after Mobility leaves.
It should also remain expensive-looking, because the market is not confused about the quality of S&P Global.
At a recent SPGI price around $417.60, if MBGL is worth roughly $25 to $33 per share, the implied post-spin parent value would be roughly $385 to $393 per current S&P Global share before considering market movement, taxes, and the usual trading noise around the distribution.
The parent will be more concentrated in the higher-quality financial information and index/rating businesses. That is good. But it also means the retained SPGI investment case is probably less about a dramatic spinoff bargain and more about whether you want to own a premium business at a premium price.
What Shareholders Need To Watch Before July 1 MBGL Distribution Date
The when-issued period should be useful.
Once MBGL WI starts trading, the market will begin giving us a real-time answer to the valuation question. The first print will not necessarily be right, but it will be much more useful than guessing in the dark.
The key things I would watch:
- Where MBGL WI trades relative to EBITDA: Is the market closer to 12x, 14x, 16x, or something richer?
- How SPGI trades ex-distribution: Does the parent get cleaner-company credit, or does the market mostly shrug?
- Whether Mobility gets data-company investors or auto-cycle investors: The shareholder base matters.
- How investors react to the debt: The $2 billion note offering is manageable, but it is central to the starting valuation.
- What the company says about capital returns: The Investor Day materials emphasize cash generation, but debt, interest, and separation costs come first.
There is a real business here. There is also a real balance sheet.
That is what makes the upcoming trading interesting. Mobility Global is not being asked to prove that it exists. It exists. The question is what public investors will pay for an automotive-data business with good margins, recognizable brands, subscription revenue, auto exposure, and $2 billion of debt.
For S&P Global shareholders, the split creates two different questions: what multiple should Mobility get with its starting balance sheet, and what is the right price for the higher-quality S&P Global that remains?
Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stock mentioned