Launched in 2012, the Luxembourg-domiciled BlackRock Mining Opportunities Fund was sold across continental Europe and to fund selectors in the UK.
In a statement sent to shareholders, BlackRock said: “Recently, there have been large redemptions out of the Fund and as at 27 January 2014 the net asset value of the fund was under $1m making the fund uneconomic to manage. The directors do not expect the fund to attract further investor subscriptions in the near future.”
The flagship BlackRock BGF World Mining Fund, also run by Hambro, is not affected by this announcement and continues as normal. This fund was launched in 1997, has assets of $7.5bn (as at today), and is Gold rated by Morningstar.
International Adviser profiled Evy Hambro and the BGF World Mining Fund in the April issue of the magazine, in which he predicted a greater level of confidence in the sector.
He said then that he was doing “an increasing number of meetings with clients who want to know our views on the sector, because they are concerned that their underweight position might cause them some pain in terms of performance".
He added: “You can see the stars aligning towards people coming back into the sector, based on a whole range of pretty good data points.”
