Merrill Lynch to market alternative research

Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008
Author: James Langton, Investment Executive

Launches Merrill Open Minds with seven alternative research providers.

Merrill Lynch today announced that it has launched a new service to distribute alternative research products and services as a complement to the firm’s own research and analysis.

The firm says that the new service, known as Merrill Open Minds, addresses the increasing demand from hedge funds, mutual funds and other institutions for a broader array of specialized research resources to help them make investment decisions. Merrill Lynch will market these research providers to institutional trading clients through the firm’s global institutional and sector specialist sales teams.

“Our research, sales and trading professionals are uniquely positioned to identify alternative research providers with specialized expertise relevant to our clients’ investment processes,” said Michael Stewart, head of Global Cash Equities at Merrill Lynch. “Merrill Open Minds provides an efficient way for our clients to access these specialized third-party providers.”

“Making third-party research available through Merrill Lynch will enrich our interaction with our clients as they engage in the dynamic process of evaluating investments,” said Candace Browning, president of Global Research at Merrill Lynch.

It has an initial agreement with seven alternative research providers with expertise in extra-financial information, corporate integrity risk, federal policy, healthcare, media, energy and consumer surveys. The firms are: ASSET4, which provides information on a range of economic, environmental, social and governance elements; Audit Integrity evaluates corporate integrity risk; Cypress Group provides insight on Washington policy in the financial services, health care, and other, sectors; Decision Resources, Inc. researches various healthcare industry sectors; Global Media Intelligence covers the global media industry; HPDI, LLC follows oil and gas production; and, Primary Source is a Merrill Lynch product offering, providing customized consumer market studies.