Sheppard’s Corporate practice is representing ExlService Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXLS), a global data and AI company, in its definitive agreement to acquire iMerit, a recognized leader in AI model training, evaluation and reinforcement learning. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
The acquisition, valued at up to $310 million, will strengthen EXL’s ability to help enterprises achieve measurable outcomes from AI, builds partnerships with leading foundation model builders and expands EXL’s reach into high-growth AI tech sectors. EXL will now be at the center of how next-gen AI is built, leveraging iMerit’s client relationships with leading foundation model companies. This also positions EXL to help enterprises build fit-for-purpose small language models tailored to their data and workflows.
The Sheppard deal team includes Valerie Demont, Matt McCalip, Teresita Acedo, Anushna Das and Claire Jang. Invaluable assistance was provided by Greg Berk, Brandon Buck, Michael Chan, Tracy Chau, Dmitriy Chelnitsky, Brian Egan, Sally Elshihabi, Jonathan Finkel, Melissa Hughes, Sean Kirby, Malika Levarlet, Theodore Mayer, Carolyn Metnick, Jennifer Redmond, Tamar Rosenberg, Isaiah Smith, Niya Tang, Dimitris Vallindas, Michael Weisshar and Daniel Yannuzzi.
Read the full press release here.