SYDNEY, 26 February 2021 -- Morningstar Australasia Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced the winners of the 2021 Morningstar Australia Awards. The annual Awards, held on Friday, 26th 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.

“Our 2021 winners have proven themselves to be excellent stewards of fund shareholders’ capital,” said Aman Ramrakha, Morningstar Australasia’s Director, Manager Research Ratings. “Australian investors are well served by a solid lineup of quality managers, but Hyperion Asset Management wins our Overall Fund Manager of the Year award for a strong performance across all their stable of funds.”

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 2020 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 Hyperion Asset Management is named the Overall Fund Manager of the Year due to an impressive lineup of strategies that consistently outperform peers and indices. CIO Mark Arnold and Deputy CIO Jason Orthman lead a team of well-tenured analysts and portfolio managers. The team’s rigorous fundamental research and a genuine long-term approach continue to shine, keeping them above the pack.

Fund Manager of the Year: Undiscovered Manager Atlas Infrastructure wins the award for Undiscovered Manager. This strategy, with strong growth in the institutional space, is worthy of attention from retail investors looking to allocate to infrastructure. An experienced team spread between London and Sydney form the bedrock of this promising strategy.

Fund Manager of the Year: Domestic Equities - Large Cap Nominated for the past three years in this category, this is the second win in a row for Hyperion Asset Management. Simply focusing on their growth bias would be underselling the experienced team who continue to demonstrate impressive stewardship with outstanding performance.

Fund Manager of the Year: Domestic Equities - Small Cap Beaten by a strong contender last year, Hyperion Asset Management wins this category in 2021. Led by CIO Mark Arnold, this strategy was elevated to one of our top picks in this category in 2020 receiving a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Gold. Hyperion Asset Management stands out as one the best options for investors seeking a genuine growth manager in the Australian small-cap space.

Fund Manager of the Year: Fixed Interest Impressive in both domestic and global bonds, Legg Mason Western Asset is the winner of the Fixed Interest category. Now under new ownership, Western Asset’s large team of fixed income specialists continue to show remarkable stewardship.

Fund Manager of the Year: Global Equities A renowned manager and best-in-class research platform makes T. Rowe Price this year’s global equity winner and one of our top picks in this category. Lead manager Scott Berg displays notable command of the portfolio and the macroeconomic issues which affect it, ably supported by T. Rowe’s sizable global team.

Fund Manager of the Year: Listed Property and Infrastructure The differentiated approach taken by Ironbark Paladin Property Securities has seen it take out this category. This strategy is a solid option for investors seeking actively managed exposure to the A-REIT sector. A strong skillset in large and small cap A-REITs, coupled with opportunistic participation in international deal flow, has enabled the team to generate superior investment returns relative to the benchmark and peers.

Fund Manager of the Year: Multisector This year’s winner has a consistent presence in this category, highlighting that a simple, diversified index portfolio at a low fee is hard to beat. Vanguard Investments Australia continues to reward investors over the long term with a formula that active peers struggle to match.  

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 2020 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. (“the company”), 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 approximately USD $215 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2020. The company has operations in 29 countries. For more information, visit https://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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Media Contact:

Mary-Kate Marchesi, +61 419-535-555 or marykate.marchesi@morningstar.com