Morningstar, the US mutual fund performance tracking organization that went public last year, is planning to publish reports on hedge funds, according to a report by Reuters.
The Chicago-based company has already moved into hedge fund industry, creating a database that tracks 2,600 funds, but from this year it will publish reports to investors advising them on fund selection. Morningstar has hired hedge fund analysts to prepare reports akin to those it publishes on mutual funds.
“While the mania surrounding hedge funds may not always be as strong as it is now, hedge funds are here to stay and research on funds has a reason to be here,” Morningstar Managing Director Don Phillips told Reuters in an interview. “Our reports are not commissioned by managers. We write them on our dime.”
Morningstar is also looking at ways of rating hedge funds in the same way as it gives star rankings to mutual funds.
In entering this space, Morningstar will find itself competing with Reuters-owned Lipper, Hedge Fund Research and others, but the firm is expanding its database rapidly.