Morningstar To Acquire Credit Ratings Agency DBRS For $669 Mln - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Morningstar, Inc. (MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, agreed to acquire DBRS, the world's fourth-largest credit ratings agency, for a purchase price of $669 million to accelerate its credit ratings business in the U.S.

The combination of DBRS with Morningstar Credit Ratings' U.S. business will expand global asset class coverage and provide an enhanced platform for providing investors with leading fixed-income analysis and research.

As the world's fourth-largest credit ratings agency, DBRS rates more than 2,400 issuer families and nearly 50,000 securities worldwide. The Carlyle Group (CG) and Warburg Pincus led the acquisition of DBRS in 2014.

Morningstar intends to fund the transaction with a mix of cash and debt, which will include the placement of a new credit facility at closing.

The transaction is expected to be accretive to net income per share in the first fiscal year after completion with an estimated closing in the third quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.