Should investors anticipate an increased level of capital investment or M&A over the next 1-2 years as a meaningful use of capital?

August 10, 2018

We generally favor deploying our excess capital toward internal investments over M&A, but we closely monitor acquisition opportunities and will consider those that meet the right criteria. Attractive acquisition candidates often possess a capability that would be difficult, costly, or too time-consuming for us to build ourselves; they must be a good strategic fit with our mission of creating great products that help investors reach their financial goals; and they must be a good cultural fit. Our acquisition of PitchBook, which was the largest in our company’s history, fulfilled all three criteria. We’re also cognizant of valuation and evaluate the returns of any potential acquisition relative to expected returns for other uses of capital. In the current environment, we often find valuation expectations for sellers are at levels that are difficult for us to generate strong returns. We’d categorize ourselves as opportunistic as opposed to reliant on acquisitive growth, as we believe that our key investment areas have ample opportunity to drive growth organically.

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