Morningstar, the investment tracker, has named the US winners of its three categories for 2009 Fund Manager of the Year award, the firm said yesterday.

The Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Year category was won by Bruce Berkowitz, of Fairholme. International-Stock Fund Manager of the Year went to the team at American Funds Euro Pacific Growth, and the Fixed-Income Fund Manager of the Year went to the team at Loomis Sayles Bond.

"The winning managers deftly steered their funds throughout the tumultuous environment and emerged strong in 2009's rally. These managers have posted competitive long-term results for their shareholders and demonstrated exceptional stewardship of capital," said Karen Dolan, director of mutual fund analysis for Morningstar.

Commenting on the winners, Morningstar said that Mr Berkowitz, of Fairholme, nearly won the prize in 2008 after reaching the list of nominees. His fund was in the top quartile of the fund’s peer group for nine of the fund’s 10-year existence.

The team at American Funds EuroPacific Growth took home this award in 1999 and won it again for 2009 with a one-year gain of 39 per cent, ahead of 85 per cent of its peers. The eight-person management team includes Stephen Bepler, Mark Denning, Nicholas Grace, Carl Kawaja, Jonathan Knowles, Sung Lee, Robert Lovelace, and Jesper Lyckeus.

"This fund's losses in 2008 were painful at 40.5 percent, in what was an even worse year for most international-stock funds. It managed to lose less than most without giving up ground on the upside. Any weakness in this team's research would've been exposed in the past two years as its large emerging-markets position was put to the test--facing headwinds in 2008 and rallying in 2009. But, the managers' picks were rock solid," Ms Dolan said.

The management team of Dan Fuss, Kathleen Gaffney, Matthew Eagan, and Elaine Stokes steered Loomis Sayles Bond to a 37 per cent return for 2009. The fund has made annualised returns of 8.3 per cent since its launch in early 1997.