SYDNEY, 28 February 2020 -- Morningstar Australasia Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced the winners of the 2020 Morningstar Australia Awards. The annual Awards, held on Friday, 28th February at Establishment Ballroom in Sydney, recognise the best of the Australian fund management profession that have made substantial contributions to investors’ success as selected by Morningstar’s manager research analysts.

“The winners of the Morningstar Australia Awards have demonstrated their ability to invest for the long term and offer worthy investment options that stay true to the interests of Australian investors,” said Aman Ramrakha, Morningstar Australasia’s Director, Manager Research Ratings. “This year, we were pleased to see strong contenders across all award categories, but Fidelity International wins our Overall Fund Manager of the Year award for its impressive lineup of strategies across multiple asset classes.”

Award winners are determined by a combination of qualitative research by Morningstar's manager research analysts; risk-adjusted medium- to long-term performance track records; and performance in the 2019 calendar year. The table below shows the category winners, including winners for the overall Fund Manager of the Year and Undiscovered Manager.

Overall Fund Manager of the Year
Fidelity International is named the Overall Fund Manager of the Year due to its impressive lineup of strategies that consistently outperform peers and indices across multiple asset classes. Harnessing the scale of a manager this size can be challenging, but Fidelity has proven to be a reliable choice for Australian investors in 2019. Australian equities lead the charge for the firm domestically but other asset classes have also rewarded investors.

Fund Manager of the Year: Undiscovered Manager
GAM Systematic Alternative Risk Premia wins the award for Undiscovered Manager. This strategy, which is well supported in the institutional space, is worthy of attention from retail investors. A highly regarded quantitative research team and differentiated portfolio construction make this a strong contender for those seeking alternatives strategies.

Fund Manager of the Year: Domestic Equities - Large Cap
Being growth oriented certainly didn’t hinder the chances of this year’s winner, Hyperion Asset Management. However, focusing solely on style would be underselling the experienced team who continue to demonstrate impressive stewardship with outstanding performance.

Fund Manager of the Year: Domestic Equities - Small Cap
Beating out a strong field of contenders, Fidelity International wins this category for the third year in a row. Led by portfolio manager James Abela, this team’s disciplined and well-articulated investment process continues to deliver impressive performance since inception in 2013. This strategy receives a Morningstar Analyst Rating^TM of Gold.

Fund Manager of the Year: Fixed Interest
The combination of a capable, Australian team backed by global resources makes Legg Mason Western Asset winner of the Fixed Interest category. Led by Anthony Kirkham, this strategy has an outstanding track record with index and peer beating results over the short and longer term.

Fund Manager of the Year: Global Equities
Changes at the top haven’t impacted this year’s global equity winner, Franklin Global Growth. This strong analyst team, overseen by John Remmert and Don Huber, execute a unique approach to sustainable growth investing, making this strategy one of the better picks in this category.

Fund Manager of the Year: Listed Property and Infrastructure
Beating the index in Australian property can be a tough ask but this year’s winner, Pendal Group, continues to make the case for active management in this category. In a highly competitive field, the experienced duo of Peter Davidson and Julia Forrest continue to deliver impressive performance.

Fund Manager of the Year: Multisector
A Morningstar Analyst Rating^TM of Gold highlights the characteristics of the Multisector category winner, Vanguard Australia. By providing a simple diversified index portfolio at a low fee, Vanguard continues to reward investors over the long term.

Methodology

Only fund managers with products available for sale in Australia qualify for inclusion in the Morningstar Australia Awards. Morningstar determines winners based on a combination of qualitative research by its manager research analysts; risk-adjusted returns over medium- to long-term periods; and performance in the 2019 calendar year. Morningstar's manager research analysts assess the track record for a fund based on Morningstar's Risk-Adjusted Return measure over the one-, three-, five-, and ten-year periods. The objective is to screen for fund managers that have provided consistently strong returns over the long term, and not just reward those with the most impressive one-year return.

Morningstar's manager research analysts then conduct a qualitative assessment of the fund managers under consideration. This incorporates the key pillars of the Morningstar Analyst Rating™ – People, Process, and Parent. The qualitative assessment also captures practical issues that quantitative screens cannot. After assessing the quantitative and qualitative outcomes for each fund manager, Morningstar's analysts then debate and decide on the fund managers they believe are worthy winners and finalists across the various Award categories. If a verdict cannot be reached by a unanimous decision, then each analyst casts a vote to decide.

To receive the overall Fund Manager of the Year award, a fund manager must have offered products in multiple award categories or delivered an outstanding outcome for investors. Fund managers were assessed not only on whether they were a finalist in more than one category, but on products that had peer-beating returns but did not obtain a top three position. The winner must have strong returns across multiple categories, proven themselves a good steward of investors' capital, and in Morningstar's opinion, has achieved the highest level of funds management excellence.

The award for Undiscovered Manager includes managers or specific funds with strong investment merit that Morningstar considers worthy of bringing to the attention of the retail market. For example, a manager that may be newer to the retail market but has a successful track record offshore or in the institutional space.

For more information about Morningstar Awards, visit https://go.morningstar.com/Morningstar-Awards

About Morningstar Australasia Pty Limited and Morningstar, Inc. 

Morningstar Australasia is a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., 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 debt and 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, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with about USD $233 billion in assets under advisement and management as of 31 Dec. 2019. The company has operations in 27 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.

The Awards are copyrighted to Morningstar. Fund managers may not publicise the Award(s) without the prior written consent of Morningstar.

Analyst Ratings and Award nominees and winners are subjective in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. Analyst Ratings are based on Morningstar’s current expectations about future events and therefore involve unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause Morningstar’s expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected. Morningstar does not represent its Analyst Ratings to be guarantees nor should they be viewed as an assessment of a fund’s or the fund’s underlying securities’ creditworthiness. The references above should not be considered a solicitation by Morningstar to buy securities.

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