BlackRock Americas Diversified Equity Absolute Return Fund

BlackRock has announced the BlackRock Strategic Funds (BSF) Americas Diversified Equity Absolute Return (ADEAR) Fund has been registered for sale in the UK.The BSF ADEAR Fund will be co-managed by Raffaele Savi, Managing Director and member of the BlackRock Scientific Active Equity (SAE) team, and Travis Cooke, Managing Director within the BlackRock SAE team. 

The Fund will seek to achieve a positive absolute return for investors regardless of market movements. At least 70 per cent of the Fund will be invested in equities and equity-related securities including derivatives of, or giving exposure to, companies listed or incorporated in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The portfolio will be highly diversified across these regions, while also seeking to minimise net exposure to underlying equity markets within the region.  The Fund will seek to maximise positive returns through its ability to invest in a diverse range of investment strategies and instruments.

Alex Hoctor-Duncan, Head of EMEA Retail Sales at BlackRock comments: "The BSF Americas Diversified Equity Absolute Return Fund is designed for investors seeking consistent absolute returns from a portfolio of synthetic long and short equity exposures in the Americas. It will offer reduced volatility and a lower correlation to other asset classes and the underlying equity markets themselves than that of traditional long-only equity funds.

"Investors in the Fund will benefit from the BlackRock SAE team's rigorous research programme which aims to identify potential market inefficiencies, highlight those that are economically exploitable, and gather empirical evidence that validates their ability to predict active returns.

"The Fund will provide investors access to a broad range of fundamental, behavioural, statistical and technical investment themes covering different time horizons. The result will be a highly diverse and balanced portfolio seeking to achieve a positive absolute return for investors regardless of market movements."

The initial charge for the Fund is up to 5%, carrying an annual management charge of up to 1.5% and a performance fee of 20% over the hurdle rate, with a high watermark. It will be benchmarked against the three-month US dollar London Interbank Offer Rate (Libor).