Passive funds giant BlackRock is to liquidate its UK Focus Fund, saying that the fund had become commercially unviable after it fell in size to £52.7 million (€58.9 million) last month.
In a letter sent to the fundholders on July 27, BlackRock said that the decision to close the fund from September 28 had been taken following a review of the fund and the firm’s expectation that it would not raise further subscriptions in the near future.
“We did discuss the possibility of merging the fund into another BlackRock fund,” the letter said. “Such a merger would be operationally and legally complex for the fund’s unitholders and the manager of the fund.
“It would also require six to nine months implementation lead time, during which it is considered likely that the fund will lose a material amount of its remaining assets. With this in mind, we have decided that a merger is not in the best interests of unitholders.”
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