S&P Sells Fund Data Business to Morningstar

Standard & Poor’s announced Thursday it is selling its mutual fund data business to Morningstar for $55 million in cash so that it can focus on its core analytical services, which includes fund management ratings and research.

The business S&P is selling to Morningstar covers individual fund performance data on more than 135,000 funds in more than 30 countries, including desktop applications and data feeds. As part of the deal, S&P will license Morningstar data that it can use in its ratings and research products.

“With the acquisition of Standard & Poor’s fund data business, we believe we’ll have the most extensive global database for managed investment products in the industry. The combination of Morningstar’s industry-standard investment data and Standard & Poor’s international mutual fund data will significantly strengthen our global database and our offerings to investors,” said Joe Mansueto, chairman and chief executive officer of Morningstar. “Our high-quality data forms the foundation of our business. It’s an important investment for us and a critical component of our research platform.”

The deal provides Morningstar a number of advantages, not the least of which is the fact that it strengthens its overseas coverage; 80% of S&P’s mutual fund data is outside the U.S. As a result, Morningstar expects to reach 10,000 additional advisers outside of the U.S.

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Money Management Executive
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