Winners Announced for 2019 Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence

November 15, 2019

PARIS, 15 November 2019 -- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced winners of its 2019 Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence. The awards, announced at the Morningstar Investment Conference Paris on 14 November, recognise the industry's most accomplished investors and shareholder-friendly firms. Morningstar selects leaders in three categories: Outstanding Portfolio Manager, Rising Talent, and Outstanding Investment House.

"Our 2019 winners have been great drivers of investor success," said Mathieu Caquineau, Morningstar's associate director of manager research for EMEA and Asia. “The managers and fund firm selected demonstrate excellent investment skill, the courage to differ from the consensus to benefit investors, and an alignment of interests with fund shareholders.”

The winners of the 2019 Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence are:

Outstanding Portfolio Manager: Michael Krautzberger, BlackRock Global Funds Euro Bond
Michael Krautzberger is one of the most experienced portfolio managers in the Euro fixed-income area. He has managed the BGF Euro Bond fund, which currently holds a Morningstar Analyst RatingTM of Gold, since October 2005. Krautzberger currently also heads BlackRock’s 14-member Euro Fixed Income team, which includes 10 portfolio managers.

“Over the years, Krautzberger has proved his expertise in combining his team's views and ideas with inputs from BlackRock's wider resources into portfolios that add value in a consistent and incremental manner by utilising a broad range of primarily relative value strategies,“ said Evangelia Gkeka, senior manager research analyst. “The very collegial and team-based approach that Krautzberger has implemented over the years has led to an impressive track record at BGF Euro Bond fund, as it has consistently outperformed its peers and its benchmark on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis.”

Outstanding Investment House: T. Rowe Price
T. Rowe Price is a best-in-class asset manager. The firm's success is rooted in its fundamental approach to active management and deep analyst bench. Investors benefit from managers' generally long tenures at the firm, well-planned manager transitions, reasonable costs, and attention to capacity.

“Despite headwinds facing active managers, T. Rowe Price remains a powerhouse within U.S. and international equities. Even as the firm expands its distribution footprint, it has retained the sensible and investor-focused culture that has long driven its success,” said Caquineau.

Rising Talent: Calvin Ho, Franklin Templeton Global Bond
Calvin Ho took over as comanager of Templeton Global Bond fund at the end of 2018, which currently holds a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver. While this is his first portfolio management experience, Ho is a veteran global macro researcher, having worked closely with Michael Hasenstab and Sonal Desai since 2005 in determining strategic positioning for this portfolio.

“Ho’s work has been instrumental in some of the team’s highest-profile calls over the past few years, particularly within emerging-markets local debt. The fund has stood out for its general avoidance of low-yielding developed-markets debt and preference for emerging-markets countries where it sees better fiscal prospects,” said Karin Anderson, director of fixed-income manager research. “This team’s contrarian, high-conviction style has made for a volatile ride and can work against the fund in the short run, but over the long term, this team’s patience and its knack for finding value should continue to pay off, and we believe Ho’s contributions to be a key driver of its success.”

Methodology
The Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence winners are chosen based on research and in-depth qualitative evaluation by Morningstar's manager research group. The full methodology for the awards is available here. Morningstar has granted annual awards to accomplished portfolio managers since 1988. For more information about Morningstar Awards, visit https://go.morningstar.com/Morningstar-Awards.

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 about US$217 billion in assets under advisement and management as of 30 September 2019. The company has operations in 27 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.

Morningstar's Manager Research Group consists of various wholly owned subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc. including, but not limited to, Morningstar Research Services LLC. Analyst Ratings are subjective in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. Analyst Ratings are based on Morningstar's Manager Research Group's current expectations about future events and therefore involve unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause such expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected. Analyst Ratings are not guarantees nor should they be viewed as an assessment of a fund's or a fund's or separately managed account's underlying securities' creditworthiness. This press release is for informational purposes only; references to securities or a separately managed account investment strategy in this press release should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the securities or to invest in accordance with that strategy.

T. Rowe Price and Franklin Templeton are subadvisers and Mr. Calvin Ho is a portfolio manager to Morningstar Funds Trust, a series trust registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an open-end management investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (as amended). Morningstar Funds Trust and Morningstar’s Manager Research Group are separate from one another; Morningstar Funds Trust was not involved in the selection of firms or investment professionals up for consideration for the above-mentioned award or the selection of award-winners.

Media Contact:

Mary Kenefake, +44 (0) 203 1941027 or mary.kenefake@morningstar.com