State Street Global Alliance LLC, the partnership jointly owned by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and the Dutch pension fund ABP, has acquired a minority interest in GovernanceMetrics International (GMI).
GMI is a corporate governance research and ratings firm that publishes corporate governance ratings on more than 2,600 companies in 21 markets. Founded in 2000, GMI is based in New York.
State Street Global Alliance aims to forge partnerships with innovative specialty asset management firms around the world that jointly allow SSgA and ABP to expand their existing investment capabilities.
GMI is run by Gavin Anderson, president and chief executive officer, and Howard Sherman, chief operating officer. Its research analysts include people with backgrounds in portfolio management, security analysis, corporate law, proxy analysis, investor relations, credit analysis, board evaluation services, and academic research.
“As a market leader with an outstanding reputation in the marketplace, GMI is an excellent addition to State Street Global Alliance,” says Joe Lyons, senior principal, State Street GlobalAlliance, LLC. “In these times of heightened awareness and sensitivity to the importance of strong corporate governance, Global Alliance is excited to be aligned with an industry leader. Gavin and his team bring tremendous experience and expertise to this field. We look forward to the opportunity to offer GMI’s value-added services to current and future SSgA clients.”
Subscriptions to its Web-based service represent GMI’s principal source of revenues. Subscribers consist of institutional investors, including mutual funds, money management firms and pension funds as well government agencies, corporations and professional advisory firms.
Annual subscriptions for GMI’s corporate governance rating services are available on three levels: by geographic region (e.g., companies rated by GMI in North America, Europe or the Asia Pacific Region), by market sector (e.g., healthcare), or, for smaller institutions, through customized portfolio coverage. “We are pleased to join the network of Global Alliance companies who share the common values of innovation and excellence,” says Anderson. “We look forward to leveraging the global brand, infrastructure and reputation of Global Alliance to expand on the delivery of independent evaluations of corporate governance at publicly-listed companies.”