DBRS Morningstar is a global credit rating agency (CRA) founded in 1976 (originally known as Dominion Bond Rating Service in Toronto). DBRS was acquired by the global financial services firm Morningstar, Inc. in 2019 for approximately $700 million. Following the acquisition, DBRS's operations have been integrated with Morningstar Inc.'s credit ratings business, Morningstar Credit Ratings, to create DBRS Morningstar. Overview DBRS Morningstar, which has offices in Toronto, New York, Chicago, London, Frankfurt and Madrid, is the fourth-largest credit rating agency by global market share, with approximately between 2% and 3% of global market share. DBRS comprises five affiliated operating companies – DBRS Limited; DBRS, Inc.; DBRS Ratings Limited; DBRS Ratings GmbH; and DBRS Ratings GmbH, Sucursal en España. Following the acquisition of DBRS and Morningstar Credit Ratings, Detlef Scholz was named president of the credit ratings business. Registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) pursuant to the Credit Rating Agency Reform Act of 2006 (CRA Reform Act) and the rules adopted thereunder. DBRS is registered as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization from the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of only 10 companies to hold the designation. Registered as a CRA in the European Union (EU) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 of the European Parliament, amended by Regulation (EU) No 513/2011 and No 462/2013 on CRAs (the EU CRA Regulation).and with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in Canada. The company is one of only four CRAs, including larger competitors Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service, and Fitch Ratings, to receive ECAI recognition from the European Central Bank (ECB). That designation indicates CRAs whose ratings can be used by the ECB to determine collateral requirements for borrowing from the ECB. In recent years, DBRS Morningstar's sovereign ratings on European nations, including Portugal, Ireland and Italy, were used by the ECB for such purposes. On May 29, 2019, Morningstar, Inc. announced their acquisition of DBRS in an approximately $700 million cash and stock transaction. The takeover closed on July 2, 2019. History The company was founded by Walter Schroeder, who started sketching out a business plan while driving to Montreal on a family vacation. He developed the rating agency from scratch, starting the company with less than $1,000. The company opened its first office, a tiny 1,500-square-foot office, in Toronto. Mr. Schroeder and his family sold the