NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BlackRock Advisors, LLC today announced that the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of BlackRock S&P Quality Rankings Global Equity Managed Trust (NYSE MKT:BQY, the “Fund”) recently approved changes to certain non-fundamental investment policies of BQY.
As a result of these policy changes, BQY will no longer use Standard & Poor’s Earnings and Dividend Quality Ranking System (“S&P U.S. Quality Rankings”) or the Standard and Poor’s International Quality Rankings System (“S&P International Quality Rankings”) (together, “S&P Quality Rankings”) as the underlying universe for investment in equity securities. Instead, BQY will broaden its investment guidelines to investing across the broader spectrum of dividend paying equities. In addition, BQY will no longer be required to invest at least 40% of its total assets in equity securities of non-U.S. issuers.
BQY’s current and amended non-fundamental policies are as follows:
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Under normal market conditions, at least
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Under normal market conditions, at least |
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Under normal market conditions, at least
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Removal of current policy | |||
The Board has taken this action as a consequence of the fundamental analysis-based investment process utilized by BQY’s portfolio managers, under which the application of either (i) the S&P Quality Rankings as an investable universe or (ii) a policy requiring a significant portion of total assets to be invested in non-U.S. equity securities is unduly restrictive in the current market environment. While the proposed changes will no longer reflect the use of a third party “quality-based” rankings system, the portfolio management team emphasizes an evaluation of both franchise and management quality as inputs to their fundamental analysis-based investment process.
BQY is required to provide shareholders 60 days’ notice of a change to the non-fundamental policies described above. Accordingly, a notice describing the changes discussed above will be mailed to shareholders of record as of June 10, 2013. No action is required by shareholders of BQY in connection with these changes.
Upon the completion of the 60-day notice period, BQY’s name will be changed to reflect these changes in non-fundamental policies. BQY will continue to trade on the NYSE MKT under its current ticker symbol even after the name change becomes effective.
About BlackRock
BlackRock is a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients worldwide. At March 31, 2013, BlackRock’s AUM was $3.936 trillion. BlackRock helps clients meet their goals and overcome challenges with a range of products that include separate accounts, mutual funds, iShares® (exchange-traded funds), and other pooled investment vehicles. BlackRock also offers risk management, advisory and enterprise investment system services to a broad base of institutional investors through BlackRock Solutions®. Headquartered in New York City, as of March 31, 2013, the firm has approximately 10,600 employees in 30 countries and a major presence in key global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and Africa. For additional information, please visit BlackRock’s website at www.blackrock.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release, and other statements that BlackRock or the Fund may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to the Fund or BlackRock’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or similar expressions.
BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.
With respect to the Fund, the following factors, among others, could cause actual events to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) changes and volatility in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for the Fund or in the Fund’s net asset value; (2) the relative and absolute investment performance of the Fund and its investments; (3) the impact of increased competition; (4) the unfavorable resolution of any legal proceedings; (5) the extent and timing of any distributions or share repurchases; (6) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes; (7) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to the Fund or BlackRock, as applicable; (8) terrorist activities, international hostilities and natural disasters, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets, specific industries or BlackRock; (9) BlackRock’s ability to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (10) the impact of BlackRock electing to provide support to its products from time to time; and (11) the impact of problems at other financial institutions or the failure or negative performance of products at other financial institutions.
Annual and Semi-Annual Reports and other regulatory filings of the Fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and on BlackRock’s website at www.blackrock.com, and may discuss these or other factors that affect the Fund. The information contained on BlackRock’s website is not a part of this press release.