Morningstar Opens Alternative Research Platform

April 9, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Morningstar has launched a new institutional research platform focused on alternative investments.

Morningstar Direct Alternative Investment Edition, a global, multi-currency institutional research platform, provides in-depth performance analysis of approximately 8,700 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and Commodity Trading Advisor products, according to a press release.  

The Web-based platform enables clients such as fund-of-fund managers, fund managers, family offices, and institutional investors to conduct alternative investment research by combining robust, timely data with advanced analytics and reporting tools.

Direct AIE includes nearly 300 data points for each hedge fund, 29,000 global indexes (including 251 hedge fund indexes), monthly performance data, assets under management, and Morningstar proprietary hedge fund ratings, indexes, and categories. Subscribers can customize their research by changing benchmarks, time periods, risk-free rates, and currencies for risk/return calculations. Strategy classification breakdown, geographic exposure, industry exposure, fees and liquidity terms, and asset class exposure help users gain insights into investment performance and risk, according to Morningstar.

With the tool, users can export presentation-ready graphs and data into Microsoft PowerPoint or PDF files, or Microsoft Excel for additional analysis.


MORE information is available at

«