BlackRock is closing a China-focused offshore fund amid congressional scrutiny over its alleged role in directing U.S. dollars to blacklisted Chinese firms.
In a recent letter to shareholders, BlackRock Global Funds Chairwoman Denise Voss said the world’s largest money manager will close the China Flexible Equity Fund over a “lack of shareholder interest” and the investment cost to keep the fund running, which she noted is “not in the best interests of shareholders.”
BlackRock intends to liquidate all assets under the fund and redeem any outstanding shares by Nov. 7. Existing shareholders have the options to switch their investments into another fund, sell back their shares ahead of the liquidation date, or receive automatic payments for the shares when the fund closes down.
Opened in October 2017, China Flexible Equity Fund had an asset value of about $21.4 million as of late August. It recorded a negative 16.7 percent return in 2021, a number that nearly doubled in 2022, to negative 30.5 percent.
The fund closure came just a month after the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party initiated a probe into BlackRock and investment index provider MSCI regarding the alleged investments in Chinese companies the U.S. government has deemed problematic.
The two firms together facilitated investment into more than 60 Chinese entities hit with U.S. sanctions over national security or human rights issues, the lawmakers said, noting that their review was far from comprehensive and thus the actual number of benefited Chinese companies is likely higher. Across five funds, BlackRock has invested more than $429 million in such Chinese firms against U.S. interests, according to the House committee.
One of the top invested Chinese entities for China Flexible Equity Fund is Tencent, a Chinese state-backed tech giant that had aided Beijing in silencing dissent and spreading propaganda through its popular messaging app WeChat. Two others are state-owned hydropower operator China Yangtze Power and Nari Technology, the country’s largest supplier of electric power equipment.
By Eva Fu
