CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar Investment Management LLC, a leading provider of discretionary investment management and advisory services and a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), today announced that mutual fund-based portfolios within its Morningstar® Managed Portfolios^SM advisory service will now have allocations to the Morningstar Funds Trust – an open-end investment management company with nine multi-manager mutual funds managed by Morningstar Investment Management. Historically, these portfolios used third-party funds.

While the direct holdings of the mutual fund-based portfolios are changing, the portfolios' stated investment objectives and risk levels will not change; Morningstar Investment Management's investment principles, philosophy, and process will continue as is, and managed portfolios' performance track records will be preserved. However, the portfolio management team is now able to allocate to managers who may not offer a mutual fund or whose subadvised account structure is less expensive. Also, Morningstar Investment Management is able to pass along costs savings to investors and implement investment ideas more nimbly using Morningstar Funds.

"We are thrilled to introduce the Morningstar Funds as building blocks for our multi-asset managed portfolios," said Matt Radgowski, chief operating officer at Morningstar Investment Management. "These funds are aligned with our investment principles and corporate values of putting investors' interests above all else."

"We are providing investors using Morningstar Managed Portfolios with greater benefits, including a reduction in overall cost for managed portfolios whose underlying holdings were exclusively third-party mutual funds," said Cindy Galiano, director of product management at Morningstar Investment Management. "The Morningstar Funds also offer greater flexibility for portfolio managers to express their investment ideas, and thus increase portfolio diversification."

Morningstar Managed Portfolios offers to qualified, fee-based financial advisors a broad lineup of strategies built with stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds to help meet investors' needs at each stage of their lives. Morningstar Investment Management is in the process of migrating current accounts that use actively managed, third-party mutual funds to the new structure. More information on Managed Portfolios is available here.

About Morningstar's Investment Management group
Morningstar's Investment Management group is a leading provider of discretionary investment management and advisory services. Guided by seven investment principles, the group is committed to focusing on its mission to design portfolios that help investors reach their financial goals. The group's global investment management team works as one to apply its disciplined investment process to all strategies and portfolios, bringing together core capabilities in asset allocation, investment selection, and portfolio construction. This robust process integrates proprietary research and leading investment techniques. As of Sept. 30, 2018, Morningstar's Investment Management group was responsible for more than $207 billion* in assets under advisement and management across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. 

In addition to advisory services, the group's investment professionals build and manage model portfolios for financial advisors in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa to create strategies that incorporate a wide variety of investment objectives. 

*Includes assets under management and advisement for Morningstar Investment Management LLC, Morningstar Investment Services LLC, Morningstar Investment Management Europe Ltd., Morningstar Investment Management Australia Ltd., Ibbotson Associates Japan, Inc., Morningstar Investment Management South Africa (PTY) LTD, and Morningstar Associates, Inc. all of which are subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc. Advisory services listed are provided by one or more of these entities, which are authorized in the appropriate jurisdiction to provide such services.

About Morningstar Funds Trust
Morningstar Funds Trust is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an open-end management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. Before investing you should read Morningstar Funds Trust prospectus carefully. Investing in open-end management investment companies (i.e., mutual funds) involves risk. The value of an investment in a fund within Morningstar Funds Trust may go down. Morningstar Funds Trust uses a multi-manager approach; therefore, in addition to market fluctuations, a specific Morningstar fund's performance is derived from the skills of the subadvisers and the allocation of assets among them. Diversification does not eliminate the risk of loss in a declining market nor does it assure a profit. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. The Funds within the Morningstar Funds Trust are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC and are only available to citizens or legal residents of the United States or its territories through Morningstar Managed Portfolios advisory service.

Please consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of the Funds carefully before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information about the Funds. A prospectus is available at http://connect.rightprospectus.com/Morningstar, or by contacting Morningstar Investment Management LLC, 22 W. Washington Street, Chicago, IL 60602, +1 (877) 751-4208. Before investing please read the Morningstar Funds Trust prospectus carefully.

About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $207 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2018. The company has operations in 27 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.

This press release is for informational purposes only; references to securities should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the securities.

©2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MORN-C

Media Contact:

Sarah Wirth, +1 312 244-7358 or sarah.wirth@morningstar.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/morningstar-funds-trust-now-available-in-morningstar-managed-portfolios-300751681.html

SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.