Morningstar Advisor - Spring 2007 - 70

In the Loop New at Morningstar Acquisition: S&P’s Fund Data Business In March, Morningstar acquired Standard and Poor’s fund data business for $55 million in cash. This unit consists of data and products covering more the 135,000 managed investment vehicles, including mutual funds, ETFs, hedge funds, and offshore funds. The move will expand Morningstar’s global presence for investors, advisors, and institutions. Eighty percent of S&P’s mutual fund data business, for example, is outside the United States. More than 1,100 institutions around the world use S&P’s fund data products. Product Launch: Principia Asset Allocation, Presentations and Education using Morningstar’s research on the stocks within the index, giving more weight to stocks with high Morningstar ratings and less weight to stocks with low ratings. Board Member: Frank Ptak Joins Morningstar Board In March, Morningstar launched two new modules to its Principia desktop software platform. With Principia Asset Allocation, financial advisors can use the Ibbotson Associates’ optimization engine and efficient frontier graphing function to determine the asset mix most likely to achieve the highest return for a given level of risk. Monte Carlo wealth forecasting allows advisors to simulate the potential performance of both taxable and tax-deferred portfolios. Advisors can then use customized reports to present the investment plans to clients. The new Principia Presentations and Education module also leverages content from last year’s Ibbotson Associates acquisition. Presentations and Education includes a robust PowerPoint presentation library of more than 170 images on a wide range of financial topics. Client brochures and advisor Web-based asset-allocation training are also included. Managed Account: Select Stock Baskets In February, Frank Ptak, 63, was appointed to serve on Morningstar’s board of directors. Ptak has served as president and chief executive officer of The Marmon Group of companies since 2006. Ptak brings more than 40 years of business experience to Morningstar’s board. Before joining The Marmon Group, he was vice chairman of Illinois Tool Works. He is the father of Morningstar stock analyst and Morningstar Advisor magazine contributing editor Jeffrey Ptak. Index: Morningstar Fixed-Income Indexes In January, Morningstar announced plans to create a family of fixed-income indexes with a focus on transparency and “investability.” In addition to serving as tools for portfolio benchmarking and performance measurement, the Morningstar Fixed-Income Indexes can be licensed to institutions for the creation of investment vehicles including such things as mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and derivative securities. Morningstar expects to launch these indexes in stages this year. The initial indexes will cover the core fixedincome categories of U.S. Treasury and corporate bonds. K Morningstar Managed Portfolios Select Stock Baskets, which debuted in February, is a managed account service consisting of customized stock portfolios. The Morningstar Indexes form the basis of each stock basket’s investment composition. The stock basket is tailored to suit an investor’s specific parameters, including sector and industry exposure, stock restrictions, existing holdings, and tax situation. Morningstar Investment Services then selects stocks for the portfolio To learn more about what’s new at Morningstar, go to http://corporate.morningstar.com. 70 Morningstar Advisor Spring 2007

http://corporate.morningstar.com

Morningstar Advisor - Spring 2007

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