• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 9, 2010

Independent investment researcher Morningstar on Tuesday announced the acquisition of financial blog Footnoted. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition includes the Footnoted.org Web site and the Footnoted Pro service, which is targeted toward institutional investors, such as hedge fund firms, that provide insight on actionable items and trends in filings.

Founded in 2003 by journalist Michelle Leder, Footnoted's small research staff pores over SEC filings to unearth relevant information buried in the fine print, such as evidence of aggressive accounting, excessive compensation, or the type of questionable self-dealing that can indicate more serious problems at a company.

"For the past six years, Footnoted's small staff has uncovered lots of examples of self-serving actions at publicly traded companies," he said.

Leder said she became interested in SEC filings early in her career, while writing about a small Florida bank that was engaged in aggressive accounting during the last real estate boom.

Leder will continue to run Footnoted, and Morningstar will make some content from the site available on Morningstar.com, the company's investment Website.

In the near future, Footnoted.org will become Footnoted.com. In addition, Morningstar will also offer Footnoted Pro to its individual investor, advisor, and institutional clients.

"Its content is a natural fit with our investor-centric offerings," Kunal Kapoor, president of individual investor software at Morningstar, said of Footnoted dual services.

Leder will retain control of Footnoted's holding company, Financial Fineprint Inc., which is based in Peekskill, N.Y.