US fund giant BlackRock is closing two of its UK-domiciled funds, but has said the move is not linked to new regulatory requirements.
BlackRock has decided to close the UK versions of its Global Multi-Asset Income and Fixed Income Global Opportunities funds while keeping their European equivalents open.
A representative for the asset manager said: “We continually review our fund range to ensure that the investment characteristics and positioning of our funds remain both relevant and consistent with the current investment environment and expectations of our clients.
"We recently completed a review of the UK Fixed Income Global Opportunities and the UK Global Multi Asset Income fund and have decided to close these funds. This is unrelated to assessment of value [reports]."
Those reports, which require fund houses to produce documents justifying the costs and performance of their strategies, became a regulator requirement earlier this year.
The spokesperson added: "The funds closing are UK funds [...] the BGF ranges of these funds [domiciled in Luxembourg and sold to international investors], are still very much successful flagship franchises for us.”
The UK version of the BlackRock Global Multi-Asset Income fund has assets of £56m and has returned 23 per cent over the past five years, compared with 25 per cent for the average fund in the IA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares sector over the same time period.
The BlackRock Fixed Income Global Opportunities fund has assets of £66m, and is among the bottom 25 per cent of funds in the IA Sterling Strategic Bond sector over the past one, three and five years.
Over the past five years, the fund has returned 8 per cent, compared with 20 per cent for the average fund in the sector.
david.thorpe@ft.com
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