Morningstar recently announced it has acquired a 40% stake in ESG rater Sustainalytics. Morningstar’s transaction builds on an existing collaboration with Sustainalytics that provides sustainability ratings to over 35,000 mutual funds and ETFs and a series of equity indices intended to provide a standard for sustainability investing, (See our 2016 Society Alert report: "Morningstar Launches Sustainability Rating System" in Investor News here.)
According to the release, almost 30 percent of professionally managed assets today are associated with responsible investment strategies. At the institutional level, more than 1,700 asset managers, asset owners, and other financial market participants are now signatories to the U.N.-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), representing $62 trillion in assets under management.
Nasdaq-listed Morningstar’s investment underscores Sustainalytics’ position alongside MSCI as one of the two dominant ESG ratings and analysis providers. A Morningstar executive will join Sustainalytics’ board. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
PGGM, the Dutch pension fund, also holds an approximately 16% stake in Sustainalytics.