Few asset managers have experienced the breadth of the investment universe in emerging markets (EM) as Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has.

Indeed, MSIM's EMD team's investment universe spans over 100 developing countries and represents over $15trn in market capitalisation. It considers every EM country that has a foreign exchange, local interest rate, sovereign credit, and/or corporate credit market in the public or private markets permissible for investment by the appropriate regulatory entities.

Not only does MSIM cover a very large spectrum of EMs, it also takes time, and effort, to study them in depth. Its investment time frame is typically one to five years, longer than most, and often coinciding with a political cycle, and, it says, "affording us the ability to look past short-term market moves with a greater focus on the convergence of fundamentals and valuations".

And, having invested in EMs since the mid-1990s, the firm has an "impeccable track record" in the asset class. MSIM has had the ability to incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into its research process for over two decades and considers this an integral part of sovereign debt analysis.

Judges felt MSIM showcased the most complete presentation of capability and track record. As one judge soberly summarised: "Good long-term performance [and a] strong ESG approach including a sovereign engagement process."