| Written by: Martyn James, | 08 Sep 2021
Morningstar, a leading global provider of independent investment research, this morning announced its acquisition of Moorgate Benchmarks, an innovation-led index provider driving change in the index industry. ETFS Capital provided seed funding to Moorgate Benchmarks in 2019 and has been its sole external investor until now. With this transaction, Moorgate Benchmarks becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Morningstar.
The FT reported global passive assets hit $15tn in the middle of 2021, with ETFs accounting for more than half the total. Growth for passives and ETFs in particular continues to accelerate globally. While the global index industry has also grown, it remains dominated by a small handful of index providers who lack incentive to innovate. This lack of index innovation undermines the wider investment industry’s ability to improve choice for end investors. This needs to change.
ETFS Capital invested in Moorgate Benchmarks to start its journey of driving change. Utilising its deep expertise and cutting-edge technology, Moorgate Benchmarks provides new ways to design, optimise, govern and calculate indices. Combined with the capabilities and backing of Morningstar Indexes, they can now accelerate change. This deal is positive for the firms involved, the investment industry as a whole and is designed to help secure end investors’ financial futures.
Martyn James, Managing Director, ETFS Capital said: “At ETFS Capital, we say our purpose is to discover and empower innovation-led firms driving the changes needed across the investment industry. We have done that with Moorgate Benchmarks and are excited to see what the team achieves next as part of Morningstar Indexes.”
Tobias Sproehnle, CEO, and Gareth Parker, Chairman, co-founders of Moorgate Benchmarks said: “Our mission was clear from the start, to challenge an industry ripe for disruption. With ETFS Capital’s support we enabled index innovation leading to new products. Now part of Morningstar Indexes, we will scale our impact to help widen choice for end investors.”
The transaction is closed, and financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.