Morningstar to cut 12% of Sustainalytics staff

investmentnews.com:

Over 200 people are expected to lose their jobs at Amsterdam-based Sustainalytics, the company announced.

The decision comes after Chicago-based Morningstar said in June it would move to align Sustainalytics more closely with its Indexes businesses. According to its website, the ESG service provider arm Sustainalytics employs over 1,800 people, meaning job losses could exceed 200.

However, according to a report by Reuters, they did not mention which departments or locations would be affected.

Morningstar representative Sarah Wirth told Reuters via email: “As a part of this alignment, we are in the process of making adjustments to strengthen the financial footing of the business. We remain committed to growing our ESG capabilities and will continue to invest in this area going forward,” she said via email.

“Unfortunately, headcount reductions in addition to other expense reductions are part of the mix. While it has been a very difficult decision, we plan to reduce our global headcount at Sustainalytics by 10-12 per cent to ensure we can get the business on healthy financial footing to be able to move forward and grow,” she added.

Sustainalytics was one of the key contributors to Morningstar’s organic revenue growth in the second quarter of this year, which grew 12.7 per cent, driven by strong demand for regulatory compliance solutions in Europe.

Morningstar fully acquired Sustainalytics in 2020.