Morningstar announced July 6 that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Sustainalytics, a company specialized in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings and research.

Sustainalytics provides data on 40,000 companies worldwide and ratings on 20,000 companies and on 172 countries. The company's ESG Risk Ratings are a benchmark for institutional asset managers, pension funds and other financial market participants integrating ESG factors into their investment processes and decision-making. Sustainalytics' ESG research and ratings also underpin many indexes and sustainable investment products, including Morningstar's Sustainability Rating for funds and Morningstar Indexes. 

Morningstar says that in addition to supporting Sustainalytics' existing offerings, Morningstar plans to further integrate ESG data and insights across the firm's research and solutions for all segments, including individual investors, advisors, private equity firms, asset managers and owners, plan sponsors, and credit issuers. 

"For more than 25 years, Sustainalytics has played a leadership role globally, influencing the way in which institutional asset managers and public pension funds integrate ESG into their investment decisions and, more recently, shaping the emerging sustainable finance market as the world's largest second-party opinion provider for green and sustainable bond issuances," said Michael Jantzi, chief executive officer, Sustainalytics. "Coming together with Morningstar creates the scale to influence capital across the entire investment spectrum and make ESG a part of every investment consideration."