M&G Investments is a value-based active investor, which currently manages £168bn of fixed income assets, of which £66bn is on behalf of UK institutional clients.

The company's background, including crucially its relationship with Prudential, makes it suited to insurers, and the business currently engages with its insurer clients in three core themes: designing bespoke liquidity management solutions, optimising core ALM portfolios and expanding and diversifying surplus assets, with fixed income playing a key role in all three.

The asset manager has adopted a 'bottom up' approach to investing, which it says works throughout the credit cycle, rather than outperforming in certain markets and underperforming in others.

This approach, which works particularly well in periods of volatility and illiquidity by being a risk and style diversifier, makes M&G a worthy winner of this year's prize.