CHICAGO, Nov. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent
investment research, has completed its previously announced
acquisition of the annuity intelligence business of Advanced Sales
and Marketing Corp. based in Oakbrook
Terrace, Ill. (ASMC) for $14.1
million, subject to post-closing adjustments.
ASMC's annuity intelligence business includes the Annuity
Intelligence Report (AI Report), a web-based service that leverages
a proprietary database of more than 1,000 variable annuities to
help broker-dealers, insurers, and other financial professionals
better understand and more effectively present variable annuity
products to their clients. The annuity intelligence business serves
170 firms, and more than 150,000 financial advisors have access to
the AI Report through these firms.
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
Internet, software, and print-based products and services for
individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar
provides data on approximately 370,000 investment offerings,
including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with
real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities,
indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in
addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has
operations in 26 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 discussed not to occur or to differ significantly
from what we expected. For us, these risks and uncertainties
include, among others, general industry conditions and competition,
including current global financial uncertainty; the impact of
market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; damage to our
reputation resulting from claims made about possible conflicts of
interest; liability for any losses that result from an actual or
claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; financial services industry
consolidation; a prolonged outage of our database and network
facilities; challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations; and the
availability of free or low-cost investment information. 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, 2009. 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.
©2010 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.
MORN-C
Contacts:
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Margaret Kirch Cohen,
312-696-6383 or margaret.cohen@morningstar.com
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Shawn Malayter, 312-696-6050
or shawn.malayter@morningstar.com
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Investors: Investors may submit
questions to investors@morningstar.com
or by fax to
312-696-6009.
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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.