CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2016—Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PitchBook Data, Inc. PitchBook, founded in 2007, delivers data, research, and technology covering the breadth of the private capital markets, including venture capital, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). PitchBook will maintain its brand and identity and will continue to be led by founder and chief executive officer John Gabbert. 

Morningstar was an early investor in PitchBook and currently owns approximately 20 percent of the company. The company expects to pay approximately $180 million (subject to working capital adjustments) for the remaining ownership interest in a transaction that values PitchBook at $225.0 million.

Morningstar President Kunal Kapoor, who has served on the board of directors for PitchBook since 2012 and will become chief executive officer of Morningstar effective Jan. 1, 2017, said, “Both Morningstar and PitchBook share the goal of bringing transparency to the investment landscape, and PitchBook is in a great position to continue its strong growth trajectory as private markets and private companies are areas of rapidly growing investor interest. Data has always been Morningstar’s sweet spot, and we look forward to working with PitchBook to help investors and advisors better understand and navigate this evolving area of the market. Over time, we plan to add some of Morningstar’s proprietary research capabilities to this dataset, and we also see meaningful opportunities to expand the business globally.” 

“I reached out to Morningstar as a potential investor seven years ago because I admired the company’s entrepreneurial spirit and innovative products,” Gabbert said. “Joining forces with Morningstar will help us enter into our next stage of growth, including developing the next-generation version of our award-winning data and software platform, investing in our world-class sales and customer support functions, and expanding our business in Europe and Asia. As investors increasingly broaden their horizons beyond traditional public markets and investments, the multi-asset capabilities Morningstar is building will become even more valuable.”