Verisk to buy energy data firm Wood Mackenzie in 1.85 bln pound deal -source

(Corrects headline and first paragraph to 1.85 billion pounds, not 1.8 billion euros, and $2.79 billion, not $1.95 billion; changes to energy data firm from analytics firm)

By Liana B. Baker

March 9 (Reuters) - Verisk Analytics Inc (NasdaqGS: VRSK - news) has agreed to acquire British energy data firm Wood Mackenzie for more than 1.85 billion pounds ($2.79 billion), according to a source familiar with the matter.

Wood Mackenzie, a private research consultancy owned by buyout firm Hellman & Friedman LLC, is focused on gathering and analyzing data about the energy industry, and will expand Jersey City, New Jersey-based Verisk's offerings. Verisk is known primarily for providing risk assessment data to the insurance industry.

The deal could be announced as early as Tuesday, the source said, not wanting to be named because the agreement has not been officially announced.

Representatives for Wood Mackenzie, Verisk and Hellman & Friedman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hellman & Friedman bought Edinburgh, Scotland-based Wood Mackenzie in 2012. Founded in 1844, Wood Mackenzie has nearly 800 global energy clients and competes with energy market data provider IHS (NYSE: IHS - news) .

Sky News' Mark Kleinman reported on the sale of Wood Mackenzie to Verisk earlier on Monday. ($1 = 0.6627 pounds) (Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)