Unlike the other EQDP funds, the BF1 Advantage ASEAN Equity Fund adopts a quantitative active approach. BlackRock says the fund operates as a core long-only portfolio and does not have any bias towards growth, value or other investment styles. The fund will be benchmarked against the MSCI Asean Investable Market Index.
Global asset manager BlackRock says it is launching its new Asean systematic active equity strategy fund under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP). The EQDP aims to channel capital into the Singapore stock market via private fund managers.
Launched on April 27, BlackRock says the BF1 Advantage ASEAN Equity Fund will be managed by its portfolio managers Ryan Kim and Filip Mena-Berlin. The portfolio will hold between 100 to 300 securities, and approximately half of it will be allocated to Singapore equities with a focus on a small- and mid-cap companies. The rest of the portfolio will be allocated to other Asean markets, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. The fund is available to both institutional investors and Singapore retail investors.
