Global consulting firm Mercer and Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc. have formed an alliance to provide investors and advisors with a single global digital platform for institutional investment manager data, performance analytics and qualitative research, the companies announced Tuesday.

The new alliance pairs Mercer’s broad global institutional manager data and research with Morningstar’s independent research and data spanning open-end mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, and indices.

The new offering will be rolled out by region, beginning in United States and Canada in the first quarter of 2019.

Institutional consultants and investors, asset managers, and financial advisors will be able to access this new global data and research offering through Morningstar products and services. The companies will be mapping research and data on institutional strategies held within Mercer to Morningstar, creating a seamless link among strategy, vehicle data and analytics.

“Investors and their advisors do not have comprehensive resources for institutional strategies research and data. Working together with Morningstar, we can give investors and their advisors an extensive and deep view of their opportunity set and costs, empowering them to make better, overall investing decisions,” says Rich Nuzum, global president, Mercer’s wealth business.

“We chose to collaborate with Morningstar because they understand the changing landscape of financial advisors’ needs. Through this alliance with Morningstar, we will bring a new level of transparency and insight to the industry and enable advisors and wealth managers to deliver holistic solutions to their clients,” he adds.

“Morningstar has a 35-year history of serving financial professionals in the pursuit of delivering the best possible outcomes for investors. We’ve seen how asset management firms, investment consultants, and wealth managers have struggled to find a comprehensive, forward-looking, qualitative research solution at the strategy and share-class level,” sayd Tricia Rothschild, chief product officer, Morningstar, in a statement. “We selected Mercer for this venture to close that gap by developing a global solution that will help advisors, asset managers, and investment consultants focus decision-making and create new investment options for the end investor, driving stronger outcomes.”