Morningstar analysts in Europe have just announced the winners for the fourth annual 'Morningstar European Fund Manager of the Year Awards'. The winners are:
Nigel Bolton
Awarded Morningstar's 'Fund Manager of the Year' award in the European equity category for his Silver-rated BGF European fund and his Silver-rated BGF European Focus fund.
Rajiv Jain
Awarded Morningstar's 'Fund Manager of the Year' award in the global equity category for his Silver-rated Vontobel Emerging Markets Equity fund and his Silver-rated Vontobel Global Value fund.
Paul Read and Paul Causer
These co-managers were both awarded the Morningstar 'Fund Manager of the Year' award in the European fixed-income category. They won based on their management of the Silver-rated Invesco Euro Corporate Bond fund.
Morningstar Praises Award Winners
“Nigel Bolton has built one of the strongest European equity teams in the market," said Chris Traulsen, Morningstar’s director of fund research for Europe. "One key to his success is the loyalty he inspires in his staff, with a number of team members moving with him from SWIP to BlackRock and still serving on the team today. His recent appointment as chief investment officer for the EMEA and Asian regions attests to his strong leadership credentials. We like BlackRock’s investment process, which is very team-based and research oriented, and the rigorous stock selection process is complemented by the team’s considerations of overall risks that include the prevailing macroeconomic and stock market environment. This combined with Bolton’s well-balanced and flexible investment approach has delivered solid returns since Bolton took over the funds in 2008.”
Traulsen also praised Jain, who won the recent 'Morningstar 2012 International Stock Fund Manager of the Year' award in the US:
“Rajiv Jain looks for high-quality businesses that show strong and sustainable growth where he can form a high degree of confidence predicting their earnings over the next five years. This prudent approach generally leads to investing in a mix of consumer-leading stocks and global firms with a big emerging-markets footprint, such as 
Coca-Cola (KO), Philip Morris International (PM), or Standard Chartered (STAN). Performance metrics for both the Vontobel Emerging Markets Equity and Vontobel Global Value funds confirm Jain’s ability to limit risk during market downturns, while driving strong returns across a market cycle to offset the inherent weakness in his approach during low-quality rallies. Risk-averse investors who look for global equity exposure are in very good hands here," he said.
Traulsen also admires the work of both Read and Causer:
“Paul Read and Paul Causer have once again reminded us why they are a quality pairing by navigating one of the most difficult periods for credit investments," he said. "Against the broad swathe of consensus thinking in the teeth of the financial crisis, the managers held their nerve by maintaining exposure to financial bonds in particular and defying conventional thinking by increasing their exposure. As always they have done this because they are fine stewards of capital who are willing and able to defy the crowd."
Recognising Talent
The 'Morningstar European Fund Manager of the Year Awards' draw from the expertise of Morningstar’s European fund analyst team and recognise fund managers in Europe who have demonstrated excellence in the past year and in their stewardship of fund shareholder capital over the long term.
Nominations for the awards are made by Morningstar’s 30-member European fund research team located in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Finland, and Norway. To qualify for a nomination, at least one fund under a fund manager’s leadership must have a Morningstar Analyst Rating.
