Mstar Acquires Separate Account Database

September 7, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Morningstar is beefing up its data offering lineup with the acquisition of the ePIPER separate account database.

Morningstar announced in a news release that it had picked up the database from Pension & Investments. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Morningstar expects to add the ePIPER separate account data to its existing database and products in October. The combined database will include more than 5,000 separate accounts and more than 1,000 managers with data focusing on qualitative information on a firm’s structure, investment strategy, and research philosophy, and quantitative information such as performance, complete portfolio holdings, asset allocation, sector weightings, the Morningstar Style Box, and the Morningstar Ownership Zone.

In addition, Morningstar will collect data on behalf of ePIPER and will host the ePIPER Web-based product accessible via  www.pionline.com .  Pensions & Investments will continue to publish the quarterly PIPER performance results in its print and Web publications, and Morningstar will serve ePIPER’s user base of nearly 600 plan sponsors, consultants, financial planners, and investment managers.

The combined separate account data will be integrated into Morningstar’s products for financial advisors, including Morningstar Advisor Workstation, an online investment planning system, and Morningstar Principia, an investment research and management software program.  

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