Change to benchmark index - BGF Latin American Fund
We have been informed by BlackRock Global Funds ("BGF") that it will be making a change the benchmark index of the BGP Latin American Fund (the “Fund”), and its currency variants, on 29 June 2022 (the “Effective Date”).
AVAILABLE IN OUR DEFINED FUND RANGE PRODUCTS
The fund and its currency variants can be found in our defined fund range products Oracle, Paragon, Quantum, Regular Savings Plan (including Malaysia variants), Preference, Hong Kong Preference and Kudos.
| Fund Name | ISIN | Affected Product Fund Range |
|---|---|---|
| BGF Latin America A2 Acc USD | LU0072463663 | Oracle, Paragon, Quantum Regular Savings Plan (inc. Malaysia variants), Preference, Hong Kong Preference, Kudos |
| BGF Latin American A2 Acc EUR | LU0171289498 | Oracle, Paragon, Quantum Regular Savings Plan (inc. Malaysia variants) |
| BGF Latin American A2 Acc GBP | LU0171289738 | Oracle, Paragon, Quantum Regular Savings Plan (inc. Malaysia variants) |
The Fund invests at least 70% of its total assets in the equity securities of companies domiciled in, or exercising the predominant part of their economic activity in, Latin America.
The Fund is actively managed and its current risk benchmark, MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index (the “Current Index”), is representative of the Fund’s investable universe and is designed to ensure UCITS compliance. However, the Current Index makes it difficult to actively manage the securities invested in and creates a risk of breaching UCITS rules and therefore the need for an extraordinary rebalance to restore UCITS compliance. This has created a need for the Investment Manager to reassess the level of active risk taken by the Fund (i.e. degree of deviation from the Current Index).
The Directors are of the view that it is in the best interests of investors to change the Fund’s benchmark to a custom version of the Current Index which is designed to ensure UCITS compliance: “MSCI EM Latin America 10/40 Index” (the “New Index”) from the Effective Date. The design of the New Index means it has a lower likelihood of breaching the UCITS rules. In addition to better reflecting the Fund’s investable universe, the New Index will replace the Current Index as a means of measuring the performance of the Fund, from the Effective Date.
BGF has advised that the change will have no impact on the Funds’ investment objectives and policies, and no material change to the Funds’ existing risk limits. The BGF notification document can be found opposite which provides full details of the changes.
For more information regard BlackRock Global Funds visit http://www.blackrockinternational.com/