Morningstar acquires bond analytics firm InvestSoft Technology

Morningstar has acquired InvestSoft Technology, a fixed-income analytics software provider, it announced in a press release. The purchase was made in response to clients' requests for more fixed-income capabilities, said Frannie Besztery, head of data for Morningstar. Using InvestSoft, which has BondPro Fixed-Income Calculation Engine, asset managers, advisers and their clients will experience greater transparency and have better insights into bond funds, she said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. InvestSoft's services fit well with current regulation movements, specifically the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule, which requires all advisers act in their clients' best interest on retirement accounts. "This actually helps with that, so that they are providing more transparency into what they're actually holding," Ms. Besztery said. "It is tying in with the overall mission of helping investors." The software provides more than 130 different calculations and models on bonds, depending on the complexity of the fund. Morningstar will integrate the technology onto its systems and rebrand InvestSoft under its own name. This is the latest acquisition in a spate of technology acquisitions the firm has made in the past two years. In March, Morningstar acquired RightPond, a data analytics provider on defined contribution and defined benefit plans. Previously, the firm had acquired portfolio rebalancer Total Rebalance Expert, financial wellness services provider HelloWallet, and data aggregator ByAllAccounts. Todd Roitfarb, chief executive of InvestSoft and formerly of Fidelity Investments, Merrill Lynch and Ernst and Young, will become head of fixed-income products for Morningstar. Al Roitfarb, his father and president of InvestSoft, will become head of architecture, fixed income for the firm.