By Amy-Jo Crowley, Oliver Hirt and Andres Gonzalez

LONDON (Reuters) - Swiss stock market operator SIX Group is weighing options for its financial information unit, including potentially merging it with another player, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The group wants to keep a majority stake in the business and may create a new legal entity for it, two of the people said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential.

Carving out the business could facilitate merging the unit with another company or selling a stake to a financial investor such as a private equity firm, one of the people said.

Financial data providers have been changing hands at elevated valuation multiples in recent years as exchange operators and financial investors seek to profit from increasing demand for data on the financial services industry.

Recent deals include Blackrock’s 2.55 billion pound takeover of Preqin earlier this year and Deutsche Boerse’s $2.2 billion acquisition of Institutional Shareholder Services in 2020. The London Stock Exchange Group also bought Refinitiv, the former Financial & Risk business of Thomson Reuters, in 2019 for $27 billion.

The sources said preparations are at an early stage, adding that a decision has yet to be taken and a financial adviser has not been appointed.

Asked whether the sale of a minority stake in SIX Financial Information was an option, a SIX spokesperson said the group did not comment on market speculation.

The spokesperson added that the data business was a central part of the group's growth strategy, and that it wanted to grow organically as well as through acquisitions.

"There is no plan to sell the data business," the spokesperson said.

SIX’s financial information unit posted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of 55 million Swiss francs ($65.11 million), according to its latest annual report.

Total operating income for the business increased by 4% to 406.9 million francs for 2023 as it launched new products and partnerships.

Discussions about the financial information unit come during a tough trading period for SIX.

The group, which is owned by around 120 banks, reported a loss of more than 1 billion francs during the same year. It lost more than 862.3 million francs on its 10.5% stake in Worldline, whose stock has fallen by more than 70% over the last year.

SIX Group CEO Jos Dijsselhof told Reuters in March that it ruled out making a bid for Allfunds after studying an acquisition, adding it would pursue deals that can expand its data business or give it access to new asset classes.

($1 = 0.8447 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley, Oliver Hirt and Andres Gonzales. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Christina Fincher)