Investment research firm Morningstar has agreed to purchase Total Rebalance Expert (tRx), an automated, tax-efficient investment portfolio rebalancing platform for financial advisors, from FNA.
Financial terms of the deal, which is scheduled to close in November 2015, have not been disclosed.
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tRx, which was created by Sheryl Rowling, CEO of FNA and principal of advisory firm Rowling and Associates, streamlines the rebalancing process for advisors and automates the complexities involved in rebalancing and managing portfolios.
tRx allows advisors to easily minimize taxes, harvest losses, and rebalance at the account or household level. Currently, over 500 financial advisors from 175 firms depend on tRx to rebalance more than $20bn in client assets.
Following the deal, Morningstar will incorporate the tRx capability into its advisor offerings and will also continue to operate as a standalone platform.
Also, Rowling will continue to operate her advisor practice and work for Morningstar on a part-time basis.
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By GlobalDataIn June 2015, Morningstar has integrated the tRx rebalancing capabilities into Morningstar Office, the company’s practice and portfolio management system used by over 4,000 independent financial advisors.
Morningstar head of global advisor solutions Tricia Rothschild said: "We’re excited to acquire tRx because it adds a key capability — tax-aware rebalancing — to our suite of offerings. With tRx, we’ll integrate an increasingly important part of the advisor workflow: seamless and automated portfolio rebalancing."
Rowling said: "Morningstar has the resources to take tRx to the next level by combining it with the company’s proprietary research and data. Today, with tRx, advisors can implement trading decisions informed by taxes and fees. In the future, Morningstar plans to add other important metrics, such as its investment valuation, risk factors, and real-time pricing, to the rebalancing capability."
