Liquidation - Aberdeen Standard Islamic Global Equity fund

Reason for the liquidation

Aberdeen Standard Investments has announced that it will be closing all share classes of its Islamic Global Equity fund (the “closing fund”) on 2 March 2021 then formally liquidating the fund. Following a strategic review of the closing fund and in particular, its current size following a significant redemption by a majority investor, the Board of Directors of Aberdeen Standard Islamic SICAV has decided that it is no longer considered cost effective to continue to offer the closing fund for investment. 

Once all share classes are closed, the closing fund will be placed into liquidation and proceeds returned to investors. The process of liquidating the assets in the portfolio will begin approximately two weeks before the formal liquidation date meaning the portfolio will become highly concentrated in cash assets and will no longer be following its investment policy.

Funds available in our open-architecture products

The Aberdeen Standard Islamic Global Equity fund features in our open-architecture products and will be subject to changes detailed in the Aberdeen Standard notification documents opposite. Upon liquidation the closing funds proceeds will be paid into the cash account on the effected policy.

Funds available in our defined fund range products

We will be removing the closing fund from our fund range meaning it will no longer be available to new investors or switches in with immediate effect. Existing investors can continue to invest in the closing fund until Monday 15 February 2021, after which point any holdings will be automatically switched, and any regular premium allocation redirected, into an alternative fund; the BNP Paribas Islamic Fund Equity Optimiser CC Acc USD (the “receiving fund”). The closing fund will also stop accepting subscriptions from 16 February 2021 so plan owners who allocate any of their regular payments into the closing fund will no longer be able to do so after this date. Although the closing fund will accept redemptions up until the closure date, we will be taking action in advance of the closure to ensure plan owners are not caught up in the liquidation process. 

We must point out that the receiving fund is only available in USD, therefore plans will be exposed to currency fluctuations if it is denominated in a currency other than USD. Whilst the receiving fund is an Islamic Global Equity fund, similar to the closing fund, there are a number of differences in charges, investment objective and performance. 

A comparison of the closing funds and the receiving fund into which they will be switched is detailed in the table below. 

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For more information about Aberdeen Standard Investments visit https://www.aberdeenstandard.com