BlackRock has decided to terminate the Asia Pacific Equity Income Fund due to shrinking assets under management (AUM), the fund manager said in a statement.
The AUM of the fund, which was launched in September 2009, peaked in November 2014 and has since steadily fallen, reaching $114m as of 12 September.
“The directors believe the fund no longer aligns with BlackRock’s wider investment platform and do not expect to raise subscriptions in the near future in the absence of recent investor interest in the fund,” BlackRock said in a statement.
As of the date of the letter, no further subscriptions to the fund will be allowed, although BlackRock said that, up until 20 January, they would continue to accept outstanding subscriptions from existing regular shareholders where such outstanding subscriptions have been agreed with the relevant saver prior to the date of the letter.
Existing shareholders, up until 28 February, may request to switch their shareholding, free of any charge, into the same or another share class of any other sub-fund of the company that are authorised for sale to the public in Hong Kong, provided that the shareholder satisfies the conditions applicable to an investment.
Alternatively, shareholders may request the redemption of their shares up until 28 February.
