Rich ousted from Morningstar

Graham Rich has lost his court battle to keep his job as the head of Morningstar Research in Australia and New Zealand.

The board of Morningstar Research Pty ousted Rich on Saturday after he lost a battle in court.

Rich sought an interlocutory injunction preventing Morningstar Research Pty Ltd's majority shareholder, Chicago-based Morningstar Inc, from removing him from office. The New South Wales Supreme Court set the injunction aside, paving the way for Rich's dismissal.

Bevin Desmond has been appointed the head of Morningstar Inc's international division, and Tao Huang, its chief operating officer, as joint managing directors until a permanent replacement can be found.

Morningstar Inc said, in a statement, it believed it would be "more effective in delivering Morningstar's products and services to the investment community with new leadership in place".

Chairman and chief executive, Joe Mansueto, said: "Graham Rich has made an important contribution to the Australasian financial community, which is why we sought to work with him in the first place. We are disappointed that our venture did not produce the results we had expected and that a management change was necessary."

Morningstar Inc sought to dismiss Rich as it alleged the business was in financial trouble with a pile of debt, and that it had been insolvent for a month.

Rich argued the company was not in financial trouble.

He plans to launch unfair dismissal proceedings against the company. Also he says that he will continue with his court action alleging that Morningstar had used its majority shareholding in Morningstar Research in an oppressive manner.

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