Morningstar Inc. on Friday unveiled its plans to join the league of big securities ratings agencies after completion of its planned acquisition of Realpoint LLC for $52 million.

Morningstar, headquartered in Chicago, is primarily known for its expertise in the field of mutual funds. However, of late the research firm is busy in expanding its forte. In last December itself, the company made an entry to the securities ratings domain by taking up the job to publish credit ratings for nearly 150 large US-based corporations.

Now the company aims to boost its ratings portfolio by adding many important structured credit products through acquisition of Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Realpoint. The credit products that Morningstar will be able get from the planned buy out include mortgage backed securities, which is one of the most lucrative options in the present day ratings business.

Chief Executive of Morningstar, Joe Mansueto, in a statement said that the structured credit market has a great demand for unbiased ratings and research, and it's time for the company to make an entry into the segment.

The company is set to settle the Realpoint deal by paying cash of $42 million and stocks worth $10 million.