At the end of September 2018, Morningstar acquired Fund Votes Research Ltd. Since 2007, Fund Votes has provided mutual fund and ETF proxy voting data on company resolutions and shareholder proposals, including environmental, social, and governance topics.

Fund Votes’ founder, Jackie Cook, a long-time expert on proxy voting, has joined Morningstar. Through her research and thought leadership, Ms. Cook will be helping investors better understand this information.

“To say that I’m excited about this is an understatement”, noted Jackie Cook, founder of Fund Votes. “We want to shine a light on how funds fulfill their stewardship role as significant owners of nearly every public company. How funds vote their proxies is a big part of that, yet it’s hard for investors and non-investors alike to even find this information, much less make any sense of it. We want to change that. How funds vote their proxies matters.”

David Raffa of Valeo Corporate Finance provided sell-side investment banking services to Fund Votes.  Cook added, “I was not looking to sell my company, but I was approached by a number of parties who were interested in our data analytics abilities and our strong underlying IP. David stepped right in and managed the process and negotiations for us with all of the parties, guiding me and educating me along the way. He was patient, informative, communicative and ultimately got me the result I was looking for.”

About Fund Votes Research

Fund Votes Research Ltd. is a research provider offering data and analysis on institutional investor proxy voting.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc. is a global financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It provides investment research, stock and fund analysis, reports and tools, as well as investing and financial news. For more information visit www.morningstar.com.

About Valeo Corporate Finance

Valeo Corporate Finance Ltd. (www.davidraffa.com) is a boutique investment banking firm located in Vancouver, BC, Canada, providing corporate finance advisory and sell-side investment banking services to small cap technology and industrial companies.  For more information contact David Raffa at david@davidraffa.com.