CFRA bulks up ETF research with acquisition of First Bridge

Investment research firm CFRA has acquired First Bridge Data in a move that will give CFRA access to global ETF data and analytics that until now it has been getting from third-party providers. For financial advisers, the addition of First Bridge will mean enhancements to the MarketScope Advisor research platform among other things, according to CFRA chief executive Peter de Boer. "We now own the underlying data and analytics," Mr. de Boer said. "Until now, we provided research, but we used third-party data to drive the research. Now we own all the underlying fund data." New York-based CFRA, which has gone through a few different owners since its founding 25 years ago, started as a forensic accounting firm to analyze companies "operating in the grey areas of accounting," explained Mr. de Boer, who acquired the business from MSCI six years ago. CFRA still operates that forensic accounting business for hedge funds and other sophisticated investors. In 2016, CFRA acquired S&P Global's equity and fund research business, bringing over analysts like Todd Rosenbluth, its director of mutual fund and ETF research. Mr. Rosenbluth views the addition of First Bridge as a way to build up CFRA's ETF coverage. "With the continued adviser interest in ETFs and ever-crowded lineup of funds to consider, the addition of a robust database focused on ETF holdings and classifications will support our existing research efforts," he said. "Fund costs keep falling, yet there remains a wide gap in ETF performance. First Bridge tools combined with our ratings will make an adviser's due diligence effort even stronger." Until now CFRA had been using Lipper for its ETF data, a process that will continue for a while, Mr. de Boer said. CFRA is expected to continue to rely on Lipper for the mutual fund data that CFRA analysts use to do research and develop reports. First Bridge, which has offices in California and India, was founded in 2011 by Aniket Ullal, who previously worked on equity index products at S&P Dow Jones Indices. Terms of the deal between the two private companies were not disclosed.