Winners Announced for 2023 U.S. Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence

Rick Rieder of BlackRock is named Outstanding Portfolio Manager; Capital Group is recognized for Exemplary Stewardship

CHICAGO, March 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, today announced the winners of the 2023 U.S. Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence. The awards recognize portfolio managers and asset management firms who demonstrate the industry's very best attributes, including investment skill and an alignment of interests with the strategies' investors.

Morningstar selects leaders in two categories: Outstanding Portfolio Manager and Exemplary Stewardship.

"Our 2023 winners represent the best of the asset management industry, and their proven track records show their unwavering focus on serving the best interests of investors," said Tim Strauts, Morningstar's head of manager research, North America. "The manager and firm selected ground their strategies in deep fundamental research, which has produced strong results and rewarded investors in the long-term."

The winners of the 2023 Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence in the United States are:

Outstanding Portfolio Manager: Rick Rieder, BlackRock

Rick Rieder took over a venerable fixed-income operation in 2010, but one that had endured leadership turnover and been bruised by the global financial crisis. He then built it into one of the strongest bond-investing teams in the industry. Over his 13-year tenure, Rieder has navigated through a variety of volatile environments, including credit selloffs and rallies, falling and rising rates, liquidity crunches, emerging-markets crashes, global recessions, a pandemic, and 2022′s bond bear market.

"Rick leads one of the strongest fixed-income platforms in the industry, guided by his team's thorough research and investor-focused approach," said Eric Jacobson, Morningstar director of manager research, fixed-income strategies. "He is a seasoned veteran who leans on experience and surrounds himself with great people to help drive his success."

Exemplary Stewardship: Capital Group (American Funds)

Capital Group has been an Exemplary Stewardship nominee every year since the award's 2019 inception, as few firms have as enviable a track record and as respectable a stewardship philosophy across nearly every asset class available to U.S.-based investors.

"Capital Group's robust culture has been forged over nearly a century, and it has long established itself as an industry leader," said Stephen Welch, Morningstar senior manager research analyst. "The firm provides strong risk-adjusted results for investors while offering low fees, and its signature multimanager approach minimizes key-person risk and succession issues. Capital Group is differentiated by its strong culture, and it is extremely deserving of this recognition."

Read more about the winners on Morningstar.com here. CNBC will feature the Investing Excellence Awards on its "Power Lunch" program today at 2 p.m. ET. Live updates from the award announcement will be available on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MorningstarInc or through the hashtag, #MstarAwards.

Morningstar has granted annual awards to accomplished portfolio managers since 1988. The Morningstar Awards for Investing Excellence winners are chosen based on research and in-depth qualitative evaluation by Morningstar's manager research group. The full methodology for the awards is available here. For more information about Morningstar Awards, visit https://go.morningstar.com/Morningstar-Awards.

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, 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 $246 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Dec. 31, 2022. The Company operates through wholly- or majority-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.

Morningstar's Manager Research Group

Morningstar's Manager Research Group consists of various wholly owned subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc. including, but not limited to, Morningstar Research Services LLC. Morningstar's Manager Research Group produces various ratings and assessments including the Morningstar Analyst Rating and the Morningstar Quantitative Rating. The Morningstar Analyst Rating is derived from a qualitative assessment process performed by a manager research analyst, whereas the Morningstar Quantitative Rating uses a machine-learning model based on the decision-making processes of Morningstar's analysts, their past ratings decisions, and the data used to support those decisions. In both cases, the ratings are forward-looking assessments and include assumptions of future events, which may or may not occur or may differ significantly from what was assumed. The Morningstar Analyst Ratings and Morningstar Quantitative Ratings are statements of opinions, subject to change, are not to be considered as guarantees, and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. This press release is for informational purposes only; references to securities should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the securities.

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