T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. - TROW STOCK NEWS

T. Rowe Price and the International Finance (IFC) have been awarded the 2024 Sustainable Investment Award for ESG Investment Initiative of the Year, Americas by Environmental Finance. This recognition highlights their collaborative effort to enhance access to blue finance projects in emerging markets and improve standards for the blue bond market.

The partnership aims to address the critical underfunding in the blue economy, focusing on ocean conservation, clean water, and sanitation. This initiative is seen as important in tackling the 'polycrisis' of climate change, biodiversity loss, and human health issues.

The award underscores the importance of capital markets, particularly the bond market, in funding these essential areas. It also emphasizes the need for awareness and education in promoting sustainable investing in emerging markets.

Oak Hill Advisors (OHA) and One Investment Management (OneIM) have launched a partnership to invest in European private credit. The venture has up to $5 billion of initial investable capital to address European borrowers' needs. This collaboration leverages OHA's longstanding European presence and global private credit expertise with OneIM's global network and flexibility.

OHA, investing in Europe since 1992, has made over $17 billion of investments in the region. OneIM, founded in 2022, has raised approximately $7 billion in commitments. The partnership aims to provide bespoke financing solutions to European companies and private equity sponsors, capitalizing on the growing demand for private credit in the region.

T. Rowe Price Group reported its preliminary month-end assets under management (AUM) for June 2024, totaling $1.57 trillion. This represents an increase from $1.542 trillion in May 2024 and $1.445 trillion in December 2023. Despite the overall increase in AUM, the firm experienced net outflows of $2.6 billion for June 2024 and $3.7 billion for the quarter ended June 2024, which includes $1.1 billion of Manager-driven distributions. Notably, equity AUM rose to $810 billion from $790 billion in May 2024. The company will release its Q2 2024 earnings on July 26, 2024, with an earnings call scheduled for the same day.

T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW), a global investment management firm, has launched its first federally tax-free fixed income ETF, the Intermediate Municipal Income ETF (TAXE), now trading on NASDAQ. This ETF targets investment-grade intermediate-term municipal bonds with a maturity of 4 to 12 years and is managed by James Lynch and Charlie Hill, who bring 53 years of combined investment experience. The ETF seeks the highest level of income exempt from federal taxes and has a net expense ratio of 0.24%. This launch expands T. Rowe Price's active ETF lineup to 16, including equity and fixed income ETFs, and underlines the firm's commitment to offering diverse investment vehicles with competitive expense ratios and tax efficiency.

T. Rowe Price, a global investment management firm, has been named to Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list for the 14th consecutive year and Newsweek's Most Trustworthy Companies in America list for 2024. Fortune's recognition is based on corporate reputation polling and analysis of nearly 600 firms across 28 countries. Newsweek's accolade is derived from surveys of over 25,000 Americans, highlighting trust among customers, investors, and employees. Michelle Swanenburg, T. Rowe Price's head of Human Resources, emphasized the firm's dedication to clients, stakeholders, and communities. She noted that these recognitions affirm the company's long-term commitment to investor confidence and its value as a career destination.

Oak Hill Advisors (OHA) announced its role as Administrative Agent and Lead Left Arranger for a private unitranche facility to support the recapitalization of MedVet, a leading network of specialty and emergency veterinary hospitals in the U.S. OHA was the sole lender, providing a term loan and a delayed draw term loan. OHA's extensive experience in veterinary care investment, with over $1 billion invested in the animal health and pet care sector since 2014, was important in securing this opportunity. MedVet CFO Dain Bussewitz praised OHA's commitment and expertise, which facilitated the streamlined execution of the refinancing and supported MedVet's growth plans.

T. Rowe Price, a global investment management firm, published its 2023 Sustainability Report, outlining progress on its corporate sustainability strategy. The firm emphasizes its commitment to transparency, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Key initiatives include increasing gender equality, enhancing water and ocean health, reducing inequalities, creating sustainable communities, and climate action. Noteworthy achievements in 2023 include 44% women in the global workforce, 48% environmentally certified real estate, and a 4% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The firm is on track to increase women's workforce representation to 46% and achieve net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040.

T. Rowe Price released its midyear 2024 investment outlook, highlighting shifts in central bank policy expectations. Notably, fewer interest rate cuts are anticipated, with equity and fixed income markets adjusting accordingly.

Key expectations include broadening global growth, elevated potential for surprises from the Fed, and the risk of reaccelerating inflation. There's increased opportunity in equities, particularly value and small-cap stocks, with a reduced liquidity preference favoring equities and short-duration bonds.

Chief International Economist Nikolaj Schmidt predicts easing from central banks, while Head of International Fixed Income Ken Orchard emphasizes the persisting threat of inflation. Equity opportunities are also highlighted, especially within sectors lagging behind market leaders.

Overall, the outlook suggests that active management may outperform in the current high-rate and volatile market environment.

T. Rowe Price has introduced an innovative, patent-pending five-dimensional framework to help defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors evaluate and choose retirement income solutions. This framework, developed in collaboration between T. Rowe Price’s global retirement strategy team and global multi-asset research team, addresses the industry’s need for a common, unbiased evaluation method.

The five dimensions considered are: longevity risk hedge, level of payments, volatility of payments, liquidity of balance, and unexpected balance depletion. These metrics help plan sponsors understand the tradeoffs across various retirement income products and how they align with the unique needs of plan participants.

The framework aims to standardize the process of evaluating retirement income solutions, facilitating better decision-making for DC plan sponsors, advisors, and consultants.