The group

EthiFinance is an innovative European rating, research and advisory group serving sustainable finance and sustainable development. The Group provides investors, companies and organisations with solutions to the challenges of financing as well as environmental and societal transformation. Created in 2017, the Group is the result of the merger between Spread Research and EthiFinance, French financial and nonfinancial rating agencies both founded in 2004. EthiFinance provides its services to a wide range of leading international clients under the brands Spread Research (independent credit research), EthiFinance Ratings (credit rating agency), EthiFinance Analytics (risk modelling), imug | rating (ESG rating & consulting), and EthiFinance (nonfinancial rating and advisory agency).

More specifically, EthiFinance provides all company stakeholders (in particular investors) with high-quality financial and ESG analysis, to assess their contribution to sustainable economic, financial and social development.

We have more than 160 employees at your service, split between Granada, Lyon, Madrid, Hanover and Paris. More than 350 clients spread across Europe, including SMEs, mid-size companies and large corporations, as well as investors (management companies and institutional investors) and local authorities.

In 2023, EthiFinance acquired imug | rating, a German pioneer in sustainable research

Our history and our subsidiaries

  • 2004

    Creation of EthiFinance by Emmanuel de La Ville and Spread Research by Julien Rérolle.

  • 2010

    Spread Research was ranked in the top 5 independent research providers.

  • 2013

    Spread Research was registered as a credit rating agency with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

  • 2017

    Spread Research worked with a group of institutional investors to develop its project of providing European integrated corporate ratings. At the same time, Spread Research teamed up with EthiFinance with the objective of founding the first financial and nonfinancial rating agency for mid-cap and large companies in Europe.

  • 2019

    Spread Research was renamed Qivalio, which also became the name of the rating agency and the name of the Group made up of the brands Spread Research, Qivalio Ratings (formerly Spread Ratings), EthiFinance (including Gaia Research).

  • 2020

    The family holding Andromède (the Hériard Dubreuil family) took a majority stake in Qivalio in order to foster the development of the Group through all its businesses and to help it expand further and deepen its role as a significant European player.

  • 2021

    Qivalio acquired Advanced CMA, French leader in credit risk analysis & modelling, which became EthiFinance Analytics.

  • 2022

    Qivalio acquired Axesor Rating, Spanish leader in credit rating, to form together the EthiFinance group.

  • 2023

    EthiFinance acquired imug | rating, a German pioneer in sustainable research, a major step towards becoming a pan-European service provider of choice in sustainable finance.

Our values and our raison d'être

Bold

Committed

Interactive