In its initial public offering on Monday, Morningstar raised $141 million, a figure at the high end of expectations despite financial losses and a change in underwriters, according to Reuters.
The underwriter, WR Hambrecht & Co., which used a Dutch auction process, said the IPO priced at $18.50 per share neared the top of its estimated price range of $16 to $19 per share.
Morningstar filed for an offering of 7.6 million shares, saying in its prospectus that those shares were being sold by affiliates of Softbank Finance Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Softbank Corp. Softbank bought its stake for $91 million in July 1999.
In January, Morningstar said it was switching underwriters from Morgan Stanley to WR Hambrecht, after Morgan Stanley rejected the Dutch auction approach, in which the auctioneer sets a high price and then lowers it until bids come in.
The fund-rating company filed its IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2004, but financial losses, regulatory issues and a change in underwriters delayed the offering, which has been almost a year in the making.
The company has been rattled by a number of regulatory investigations. Last September, Morningstar said the SEC might file civil charges against it for publishing data that overstated the total returns of the Rock Canyon Top Flight Fund.
Three months later, it said it received a request from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer regarding investment-consulting services it offers to retirement plan providers.
