CFRA Agrees to Buy ETF Data Provider First Bridge
August 05 2019 - 7:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Britton O'Daly
CFRA LLC, a New York-based investment-research firm, has agreed
to acquire data-and-analytics firm First Bridge Data LLC.
CFRA said the acquisition of First Bridge will allow the company
to base its research on more in-house data instead of relying on
third-party data providers. CFRA competes with other research
providers including Morningstar Inc. and Thomson Reuters Corp. to
provide institutional investors and wealth managers with insights
into the performance and potential of fund managers.
"We do the research, but we don't own the underlying data and
analytics, " said CFRA Chief Executive Peter de Boer in an
interview. "By owning that and investing in that, we set ourselves
up to compete with companies like Morningstar."
Both companies are private. Financial terms of the transaction
weren't disclosed.
In a news release, CFRA said its research team comprises 75
analysts spread across the U.S., England and Asia. Mr. de Boer
declined to give any information on the size or revenue of First
Bridge, which has a focus on exchange-traded funds. According to
ZoomInfo.com, a business-to-business information provider, First
Bridge has 21 employees.
Mr. de Boer said that acquiring First Bridge will put CFRA in
line with Morningstar as the only companies who can "provide the
holistic research and the underlying data and analytics." He added
that this recent acquisition isn't about "efficiencies" or
consolidating their own business, but expanding CFRA's capabilities
for clients.
The acquisition follows CFRA's purchase of S&P Global Inc.'s
equity- and fund-research business in late 2016. CFRA was founded
in 1994 as the "Center for Financial Research and Analysis."
Aniket Ullal, who founded First Bridge in 2011 and published a
book in 2013 about ETF investment advice, is joining CFRA as an
employee.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 05, 2019 07:14 ET (11:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024