Micropal Group Limited

Micropal Group Limited

Industry	Financial Services
Fate	Acquired
Successor	Standard & Poor's
Founded	1985
Defunct	November 1997
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Products	Micropal Workstation
Employees	150 [1]

Micropal Group Limited, also just known as "Micropal", was a global financial services company specialising in the collection and analysis of mutual fund performance data.

Business Description

Micropal came to be considered a global leader in providing independent information on mutual funds^[2]

Europe

Micropal was considered the market leader in Europe, where their data, rankings & awards were widely quoted in media outlets as well as the marketing materials of fund companies. Christopher Poll and other members of the company would also be called upon to offer sound bytes for various publications on subjects related to the mutual fund industry.

Asia

Micropal was the first mutual fund tracking company to establish itself in Asia, and by the time competitors began to seriously enter the market in 1997 Micropal had 12 employees in four regional offices serving fund management customers throughout the region.^[3]

Corporate history

Micropal was founded and financed in 1983^[1] by Christopher Poll^[4] and John Richardson. In 1985, the company consisted of another 4 founder members, (Salim Ghayur, Andy Pettit, Abbey Shasore and Demetries Andreou). Mark Adorian ^[5] joined soon after along with Steve Lee who formed and headed their software development team in Ipswich. Together they developed the company into 15 offices around the world, including an agency set-up in 1991 in Switzerland by Adorian's future StatPro Group colleague Justin Wheatley^[6]. The company expanded into the US with the acquisition of Investment Company Data, Inc.

Acquisition by The McGraw-Hill Companies

On October 16, 1997 The McGraw-Hill Companies announced that it had made an offer to acquire Micropal. At the time the company had 15 offices in 11 countries and held data on 38,000 mutual funds in 19 countries, with this data published in more than 150 media outlets^[1]. Joseph L. Dionne, then Chairman and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies, said the following about the purchase:

"This acquisition expands on The McGraw-Hill Companies' key strategy to build on our leading positions in financial services and global publishing. The addition of Micropal further demonstrates The McGraw-Hill Companies' commitment of its Standard & Poor's brand to meeting the information, rating and analytical needs of the mutual funds marketplace on a global basis with the best and broadest capabilities anywhere. Standard & Poor's and Micropal share a commitment to providing impartial, value- added information that meets the highest standards for quality, independence and objectivity."^[1]

The purchase was completed in November 1997, with Micropal becoming a division of Standard & Poor's. Christopher Poll, who had been serving as Chairman, retired from the company, and Mark Adorian was appointed to head the new division which was called "S&P Micropal"^[1].

Nearly ten years later Standard & Poor's mutual fund data business, including Micropal, was acquired by Morningstar, Inc. for US$55 million. The deal was announced on February 22, 2007^[7] and completed on March 16^[8]. At the time of the announcement S&P's mutual fund data business covered more than 135,000 mutual funds, hedge funds, offshore funds and exchange-traded funds in over 30 countries^[7], and had offices in 8 countries^[9]. Following completion of the deal it was announced that the US office in Des Moines, Iowa (formerly Investment Company Data, Inc.) would be closed and its operations moved to Morningstar's offices in Chicago^[10]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} "The McGraw-Hill Companies to Acquire Micropal". http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+McGraw-Hill+Companies+to+Acquire+Micropal-a019861914. Retrieved April 29, 2007. 
2. ^ "Dispatch Online Article, June 4, 1999". http://www.dispatch.co.za/1999/06/04/business/BUS10.htm. Retrieved May 16, 2007. 
3. ^ Tam, Pui-Wing. "Firms Vie to Offer Data On Mutual Funds in Asia - WSJ.com". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB863029308868322000.html?mod=googlewsj. Retrieved May 16, 2007. 
4. ^ "Christopher Poll biography @ www.future-route.com". http://www.future-route.com/about_us. Retrieved April 29, 2007. 
5. ^ "Mark Adorian biography @ www.statpro.com". http://www.statpro.com/executives_mark_adorian.asp. Retrieved April 29, 2007. 
6. ^ "Justin Wheatley Biography @ StatPro.com". http://www.statpro.com/executives_justin_wheatley.asp. Retrieved September 19, 2007. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Standard & Poor's Press Release". http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.article/4,5,5,1,1148434412259.html. Retrieved April 29, 2007. 
8. ^ "Standard & Poor's Press Release". http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.article/4,5,5,1,1148442449878.html. Retrieved April 29, 2007. 
9. ^ "Morningstar Press Release". http://corporate.morningstar.com/US/asp/subject.aspx?xmlfile=174.xml&filter=PR4213. Retrieved April 29, 2007. 
10. ^ "Morningstar looks abroad - InvestmentNews". http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070523/REG/70523001. Retrieved May 23, 2007.