Leading Independent Investment Research, Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar

Leading Independent Investment Research

Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. We offer an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. 

Morningstar provides data on more than 500,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 16 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $180 billion in assets under advisement or management as of June 30, 2015. We have operations in 27 countries.

Download the Morningstar Fact Sheet : http://corporate.morningstar.com/US/documents/MarketingFactSheets/AboutMorningstarFactsheet.pdf

Event-Driven

<ul><li class="p1">Veda has a near monopoly in the consumer risk segment&nbsp;and is the largest in the commercial segment. Given data&nbsp;contributors are likely to limit how many data gatherers&nbsp;they release sensitive information to, the market will&nbsp;remain highly consolidated.</li><li class="p1">Equifax's move to acquire Veda Group is now one step closer.&nbsp;As expected, after a period of exclusivity to conduct due&nbsp;diligence, Equifax has made its AUD 2.825 cash per share&nbsp;offer for Veda binding.</li><li class="p1">The pace at which Equifax increased&nbsp;its bid from AUD 2.70 highlighted to us how serious and&nbsp;keen the NYSE-listed bureau is.</li><li class="p1">Veda's board unanimously&nbsp;recommends the binding offer subject to no superior&nbsp;alternative proposal and the outcome of an independent&nbsp;expert review. The offer is also subject to regulatory&nbsp;approval.</li><li class="p1">While not a huge premium to our unchanged&nbsp;AUD 2.60 fair value estimate, we see the offer as fair given&nbsp;shareholders will not have to wait out the impact of&nbsp;competition in the consumer bureau space and uncertainty&nbsp;around timing of any upside from comprehensive reporting.</li><li class="p1">We think the deal is likely to proceed.</li><li class="p1">Largest shareholder&nbsp;Perpetual advocated the price as fair and endorsed the board&nbsp;decision to recommend the offer, making it likely the fund&nbsp;manager votes in favour of the scheme.</li></ul><p class="p1"><em>Analysts: Nathan Zaia &amp; David Ellis</em></p>

Veda has a near monopoly in the consumer risk segment&nbsp;and is the largest in the commercial segment. Given data&nbsp;contributors are likely to limit how many data gatherers&nbsp;they release sensitive information to, the market will&nbsp;remain highly consolidated.Equifax's move to acquire Veda Group is now one step closer.&nbsp;As expected, after a period of exclusivity to conduct due&nbsp;diligence, Equifax has made its AUD 2.825 cash per share&nbsp;offer for Veda binding.The pace at which Equifax increased&nbsp;its bid from AUD 2.70 highlighted to us how serious and&nbsp;keen the NYSE-listed bureau is.Veda's board unanimously&nbsp;recommends the binding offer subject to no superior&nbsp;alternative proposal and the outcome of an independent&nbsp;expert review. The offer is also subject to regulatory&nbsp;approval.While not a huge premium to our unchanged&nbsp;AUD 2.60 fair value estimate, we see the offer as fair given&nbsp;shareholders will not have to wait out the impact of&nbsp;competition in the consumer bureau space and uncertainty&nbsp;around timing of any upside from comprehensive reporting.We think the deal is likely to proceed.Largest shareholder&nbsp;Perpetual advocated the price as fair and endorsed the board&nbsp;decision to recommend the offer, making it likely the fund&nbsp;manager votes in favour of the scheme.Analysts: Nathan Zaia &amp; David Ellis

Equifax Cash Offer for Veda Group Now Binding

Veda Group Ltd

Equifax Cash Offer for Veda Group Now Binding