Morningstar has dropped the offshore shares category for the second year in a row in the upcoming NZ fund manager of the year awards.
The Australian arm of US-headquartered research house said in a release that the NZ “international equities award will not be awarded again this year, as there were no eligible candidates demonstrating suitable achievement across each of our three award criteria”.
Instead, Morningstar will hand out gongs in just four categories covering local shares, fixed interest (combining NZ and global), KiwiSaver and best-in-show.
Devon, Nikko and last year’s winner, Milford, will vie for the fund manager of the year award.
According to the Morningstar release, managers in line for the top prize are “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 statement says.
Milford is also a contender for another repeat award as KiwiSaver manager of the year, contesting the category with the recently sold, QuayStreet Asset Management, and the ethical specialist, Pathfinder.
Only Devon, which rode the value resurgence last year, and Nikko have been nominated for the domestics equities award while Bentham, Colchester and Harbour compete in the fixed income sector.
Annika Bradley, Morningstar Australasia director manager research, said in the release: “The unprecedented market volatility over geopolitical risks, economic uncertainty and the ongoing fallout of the pandemic brought challenges to even the most sophisticated of investors in 2022.”
Morningstar Australia recently shook up its fund research team with 15-year veteran, Tim Murphy, departing the firm where he served as director of manager research Asia Pacific.
The NZ Morningstar fund award winners will be revealed on March 1 in a ceremony booked for the traditional venue of the Maritime Room in Auckland harbourside.