William Blair acted as exclusive financial advisor to the University of Chicago, through its non-profit the Center for Research in Security Prices, in connection with the sale of its U.S. equities index fund tracking platform CRSP to Morningstar.
“Morningstar’s acquisition of CRSP from the University of Chicago’s Center for Research in Security Prices highlights the impact the university’s solution has made in both academic and investing communities,” Robert Abbe and Josh Funt, managing directors in William Blair’s financial services investment banking group, said. “In CRSP and its Total Market Fund – colloquially known as ‘the largest market index no one’s ever heard of’ – Morningstar will be able to provide investors a tech-forward platform and associated index fund grounded in scholarly research that serves as yet another differentiated investment vehicle for consideration by the institutional investing community.”
