Morningstar has lined up a new batch of candidates for its NZ fund manager of the year awards that once again excludes an international shares category.
The research house has named Milford, Harbour and Mint as finalists for the overall fund manager of the year gong that was taken out last year by the NZX subsidiary QuayStreet.
But while Morningstar will also hand out trophies for excellence in local equities, KiwiSaver and fixed income at a ceremony set down for Auckland on March 6, global equities remains off the menu for the fourth year in succession.
“The international equities award will not be awarded again this year, as there were no eligible candidates demonstrating suitable achievement across our award criteria,” a release says.
But Matt Olsen, Morningstar Australasia director manager research, said in the statement that the NZ finalists had navigated successfully during a tricky 12-month period featuring intense global geopolitical tension, ongoing inflation uncertainty and growth concerns.
“Despite the turbulent past year, our nominated fund managers demonstrated an ability to deliver quality, high-performing investments and have stood above peers with exceptional returns over the longer term,” Olsen said.
Mint, Milford and Harbour are also the three finalists in the domestic shares category while ASB, Generate and QuayStreet will vie for the best KiwiSaver prize.
Harbour, meanwhile, is a contender in three out of the four award genres after picking up a fixed income nomination along with Mercer-Macquarie and Nikko: last year the Australia-based Bentham was named the Morningstar NZ best bond manager.
Morningstar says the awards are “selected using a combination of past performance and risk and, whenever possible, Morningstar’s forward-looking rating for funds” including an assessment of the parent company if appropriate.
However, about half of the quantitative score used to determine winners is based on the most recent 12-month risk-and-return data for the funds in contention.
The Morningstar Australia fund manager of the year awards due to be unveiled on February 20, meanwhile, span nine separate categories including sustainable investing.
Hyperion, Perpetual and Yarra (formerly Nikko) are all in the frame for the best overall Australian manager, according to Morningstar.