Morningstar - M&A Summary and Business Overview

Information ServicesCompany

Morningstar M&A Summary

Morningstar has acquired 23 companies, including 10 in the last 5 years. A total of 3 acquisitions came from private equity firms. It has also divested 4 assets.

Morningstar’s largest acquisition to date was in 2019, when it acquired DBRS for $669M. It’s largest disclosed sale occurred in 2018, when it sold Morningstar - 15 Board Consulting Services to Broadridge Financial Solutions for $11M. Morningstar has acquired in 12 different US states, and 5 countries. The Company’s most targeted sectors include information services (41%) and information technology (19%).

Morningstar Business Overview

Where is Morningstar headquartered?

Morningstar is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

What is Morningstar’s revenue?

Morningstar disclosed revenue of 2,039M USD for 2023 and 1,871M USD for 2022.

How many employees does Morningstar have?

Morningstar has 12,224 employees.

What sector is Morningstar in?

Morningstar is an information services company.

When was Morningstar founded?

Morningstar was founded in 1984.

M&A Summary

  • M&A Total Activity26
    • M&A Buy Activity22
    • M&A Sell Activity4
  • Total Sectors Invested 7
  • Total Countries Invested 5
  • M&A Buy/Sell Connections 13
  • M&A Advisors 1

Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc.

22 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Illinois 60602
United States,
(312) 696-6000
www.morningstar.com

Morningstar is a provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Morningstar offers products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar was formed in 1984 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.


M&A Summary

Buy vs Sell

Year ≤ '19 '20 '21 '22 '23 '24 T
Buy (1.2/yr) # 16 3 2 1 - - 22
vol $1.2B $54M $650M $1.9B
Sell (0.2/yr) # 3 - - - - 1 4
vol $11M $11M
  26

Most Recent M&A

Company Date Value Type
Morningstar Commodity Data, Inc. 2024-09-23 - Divestiture
Chicago, Illinois
Leveraged Commentary & Data 2022-04-04 650M USD Add-on Acquisition
New York, New York · www.lcdcomps.com
Praemium - U.K. & International Business 2021-12-21 54M GBP Divestiture
, United Kingdom
Moorgate Benchmarks Ltd. 2021-09-08 - Add-on Acquisition
London, United Kingdom · www.moorgatebenchmarks.com
HedgePo Ltd. 2020-06-24 - Growth Capital
London, United Kingdom · www.allocator.com
PlanPlus Global, Inc. 2020-03-03 - Add-on Acquisition
Toronto, Ontario · www.planplusglobal.com
Hueler Analytics - Stable Value Data and Index 2020-02-03 - Divestiture
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
AdviserLogic Group 2019-11-03 - Add-on Acquisition
Sydney, Australia · www.adviserlogic.com
Cuffelinks Pty. Ltd. 2019-10-17 - Add-on Acquisition
, Australia · www.firstlinks.com.au
DBRS Ltd. 2019-05-29 669M USD Add-on Acquisition
Toronto, Ontario · www.dbrs.com
View All >>

M&A by Sector

Sector Buy # Value Sell # Value
Information Services 9 (41%) 1.1B (56%) 2 (50%) 11M (100%)
Information Technology 4 (18%) 133M (7%) - -
Business Services 3 (14%) - - -
Software 3 (14%) - - -
Internet Software and Services 1 (5%) 53M (3%) 1 (25%) -
Financial Services 1 (5%) 669M (35%) - -
Publishing 1 (5%) - - -
Media - - 1 (25%) -
Total 22 $1.9B 4 $11M

By Geo

State/Country Buy Value Sell Value
United States 14 1.2B 3 11M
  Illinois 1 83M 2 11M
  Texas 2 64M - -
  District of Columbia 1 53M 1 -
  Minnesota 1 - - -
  Massachusetts 1 28M - -
  Maryland 1 52M - -
  Connecticut 1 - - -
  California 1 - - -
  Washington 1 225M - -
  Pennsylvania 1 52M - -
  New York 1 650M - -
United Kingdom 3 54M 1 -
Australia 2 - - -
Canada 2 669M - -
  Ontario 2 669M - -
Netherlands 1 - - -
Domestic 14 (64%) 1.2B (63%) 3 (75%) 11M (100%)
Cross-border 8 (36%) 723M (37%) 1 (25%) -
Total 22 $1.9B 4 $11M

Top M&A Advisors

Legal Deals
Winston & Strawn
1

Deal Values

buy # Total
$100M to $1B 3 $1.5B
< $100M 8 $385M
TOTAL $1.9B
Largest DBRS Ltd.
$669M (2019-05-29)
sell # Total
< $100M 1 $11M
TOTAL $11M
Largest Morningstar, Inc. - 15(c) Board Consulting Services
$11M (2018-01-02)

M&A Connections

Deals
Acquired from
Investor(s)
9%
2 (9%)
Strategic(s)
23%
5 (23%)
Divested to
Investor(s)
25%
1 (25%)
Strategic(s)
100%
4 (100%)

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