Morningstar, Inc. Acquires InvestSoft Technology, Provider of Fixed-Income Analytics

CHICAGO, May 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has acquired InvestSoft Technology, a provider of fixed-income analytics. Terms were not disclosed.

InvestSoft helps investment firms analyze fixed-income securities and portfolios, primarily through its BondPro Fixed-Income Calculation Engine, which provides more than 130 analytic and accounting calculations.

Frannie Besztery, head of data for Morningstar, said, "We're committed to enhancing our ability to analyze bond portfolios. Our asset management and advisor clients have been asking for more robust fixed-income capabilities, and InvestSoft's analytics will help us create a more complete view of mutual fund and exchange-traded fund portfolios, providing investors with better transparency into bond funds."

Todd Roitfarb, chief executive officer of InvestSoft, said, "InvestSoft understands the real-time needs of investment firms, and we pride ourselves on the speed and accuracy of our calculations and the seamlessness of our data processing. Now that we are part of Morningstar, we can reach and better serve more investors who need high-quality fixed-income analytics."  

Morningstar will gradually integrate the firm's capabilities into its data processing systems and product functionality. The company will rebrand InvestSoft under the Morningstar name.

InvestSoft is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. Al Roitfarb founded InvestSoft in 1992 as Investment Technology. State Street, a client of the company, acquired the firm in 2001. In 2005, Investment Technology reacquired key software, and in 2011, Al Roitfarb and his son, Todd Roitfarb, formed InvestSoft after spending several years upgrading and redesigning the software. Todd Roitfarb has been CEO since joining InvestSoft in 2011. He previously held roles at Fidelity Investments, Merrill Lynch, and Ernst & Young.

Al Roitfarb will become head of architecture, fixed income, and Todd Roitfarb will become head of fixed-income products for Morningstar. The investment banking firm DGZ Associates, Inc. advised InvestSoft on the transaction.

About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 525,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on nearly 18 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $180 billion in assets under advisement and management as of March 31, 2016. The company has operations in 27 countries.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue." These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, liability for any losses that result from an actual or claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; failing to differentiate our products and continuously create innovative, proprietary research tools; failing to respond to technological change, keep pace with new technology developments, or adopt a successful technology strategy; liability related to our storage of personal information related to individuals as well as portfolio and account-level information; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in laws applicable to our investment advisory or credit rating operations; downturns in the financial sector, global financial markets, and global economy; the effect of market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; the effect of changes in industry-wide issuance volume from commercial mortgage-backed securities; a prolonged outage of our database, technology-based products and services, or network facilities; challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations, including the concentration of data and development work at our offshore facilities in China and India; and trends in the mutual fund industry, including the increasing popularity of passively managed investment vehicles. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results may vary significantly from what we expected. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.

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