BlackRock is closing its Asia Special Situations fund on 11 January, after the fund shrunk following the departure of its head of Asian equities in 2020.
The fund, which had £28.9m in assets at the end of October, has been steadily declining since the beginning of 2020, when it was about £175m.
The decline coincided with the departure of Andrew Swan, formerly head of Asian equities for BlackRock, who is now with Man GLG. Swan was replaced by Stephen Andrews, who manages the fund alongside Emily Dong.
Since 1 January 2020, the fund has underperformed its benchmark, the MSCI All Countries Asia ex Japan index, and its sector, Asia Pacific ex Japan. From then until 9 November this year, the fund lost 4.3%, while the sector returned 8.9% and the index returned 1.9%, according to FE fundinfo.
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In 2021, as part of BlackRock's Assessment of Value, the asset manager determined the fund did not perform and was placed on its "enhance performance monitoring programme".
In a letter to investors seen by Investment Week, BlackRock was said to consider "the size of the fund to be no longer commercially viable and, as a result and in accordance with the rules of the UK Financial Conduct Authority, they have decided to close it".
Investors were given three options in a letter sent on 24 October. They could switch into an equivalent BlackRock fund, redeem their investments prior to closure or if they take no action their investments would be redeemed on closure.
