The Awards recognise the industry's most accomplished investors, most promising talents and shareholder-friendly firms

Paris, 20 October 2020 -- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced the nominees for the 2020 Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence. The awards recognise portfolio managers and fund firms that demonstrate excellent investment skill, the courage to differ from the consensus to benefit investors, and an alignment of interests with fund shareholders.

Morningstar selects nominees in three categories: Outstanding Portfolio Manager, Rising Talent, and Outstanding Investment House. The nominees for the 2020 Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence are:

Outstanding Portfolio Manager:

• Laurent Dobler – Comgest Growth Europe / Renaissance Europe
• Philippe Igigabel – HSBC GIF Euro High Yield Bond
• Robin Parbrook – Schroder ISF Asian Total Return

Rising Talent:

• Archibald Ciganer - T. Rowe Price Japanese Equity Fund
• Jack Nelson - Stewart Investors Global Emerging Markets Sustainability
• Lorenzo Pagani - PIMCO GIS Euro Bond

Outstanding Investment House:

• Baillie Gifford
• Capital Group
• Unigestion

Mathieu Caquineau, Associate Director of Manager Research for EMEA and Asia, comments: “It is with great pleasure that we announce the nominees of this year’s Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence. Despite adverse market conditions and unprecedented challenges posed to investors, the 2020 nominees remained true to their investment style, demonstrated exceptional skill over time and remained focused on preserving investors’ interests.”

The safety and well-being of our staff and clients is our top concern, and due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, we have taken the decision not to host a live event. Instead, we would like to honour and celebrate the winners of these awards digitally. We will be announcing the winners on our European websites during the last week of November 2020.

Methodology 
The Pan-European Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence winners are chosen based on in-depth qualitative evaluation by Morningstar's manager research group. To be eligible for the Outstanding Portfolio Manager award, managers must run one or more investment strategies currently available for sale in at least two European countries that have received a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ (Analyst Rating) of Gold or Silver on at least one share class. Rising Talent award nominees must run or co-run an investment strategy currently available for sale in at least two European countries that have received an Analyst Rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze on at least one share class, or be featured in Morningstar Prospects, a publication that highlights strategies under consideration for full analyst coverage. Rising Talent Award nominees must also have less than seven years’ tenure on the strategy they are currently managing yet have delivered exceptional results to investors over that span of time. Nominees for Outstanding Investment House must actively distribute funds in at least two European countries and have a Morningstar Parent rating of High. They must demonstrate a track record of putting their clients' interests ahead of their own and have delivered great long-term results for investors.

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 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 approximately $205 billion in assets under advisement and management as of 30 June 2020. 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.

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