BlackRock closes multi-sector sister funds
Standard & Poor's Fund Services (S&P) has withdrawn ratings from three BlackRock multi-sector funds at the request of the manager.
BlackRock’s High Growth Fund Class D, Conservative Fund Class D and Moderate Balanced Fund Class D were launched off the back of the manager’s popular and highly rated multi-sector balanced fund, according to Scott Phillips, director and head of retail global client group at BlackRock.
Even though the funds had been highly rated, with each earning a five-star ranking from S&P, they were unable to generate significant interest, Phillips said.
“We thought there might be demand [for these funds] after the strong performance of the [multi sector] balanced fund but that wasn’t the case,” he said.
S&P analyst Tom Mills said the withdrawal of the three multi sector funds was unrelated to S&P’s recent decision to place seven other BlackRock funds on hold following the departure of two team heads.
S&P last month placed seven BlackRock funds ‘on hold’ after Australian head of scientific active equity investments, Andrew Jackson, and head of portfolio management active equity, Davis Walsh, announced they would be leaving the company.
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