Index provider Alerian has acquired ETF Trends and ETF Database, which provides research, educational tools and proprietary insights on the growing universe of exchange-traded funds for financial advisors and investors. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"The market demands state of the art, data driven tools to inform product development, enhance distribution, and increase overall advisor engagement," said Robert Hughes, chief commercial officer in a statement. "ETF Trends and ETF Database's established and growing presence with the financial advisor community furthers our insight into what is most important to them, enabling us to deepen our relationships with shared clients."
The combined company will be able "to offer clients an efficient turnkey solution to identify market needs, create thoughtfully designed indexes, develop highly customized content and then deliver this information intelligently, leveraging a targeted distribution platform," according to the Alerian announcement.
The transaction is the latest expansion step for Alerian, which started in 2004 as an index provider for the master limited partnership midstream energy sector. In early 2020 it acquired S-Network Global Indexes, which offers energy, income and thematic indexes. The firm now has over $20 billion in total assets benchmarked to its indexes with over 200 customers worldwide.
