NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BlackRock Advisors, LLC today announced that the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of each of BlackRock International Growth & Income Trust (NYSE:BGY) and BlackRock Global Opportunities Equity Trust (NYSE:BOE) (together, the “Funds” and each, a "Fund") approved changes to certain non-fundamental investment policies and names for the Funds, which are expected to go into effect on or about June 12, 2017. In addition, effective March 29, 2017, BlackRock International Limited (the “Sub-Advisor”) will be added as a sub-adviser to each Fund.
Effective on or about June 12, 2017, the changes to BGY’s and BOE’s non-fundamental investment policies are set forth below:
| Current Policy | New Policy | |||||
| BGY | The Fund invests, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its assets in equity securities issued by non-U.S. companies. The Fund may hold or have exposure to equity securities of issuers of any size, including small and medium capitalization companies, and to issuers in any industry or sector. Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally intends to write covered call and put options with respect to approximately 45% to 55% of its total assets, although this percentage may vary from time to time with market conditions. | Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in dividend-paying equity securities issued by non-U.S. companies. The Fund may invest in securities of companies of any market capitalization, but intends to invest primarily in securities of large capitalization companies. Under normal market conditions, the Fund generally intends to write covered call and put options with respect to approximately 30% to 45% of its total assets, although this percentage may vary from time to time with market conditions. | ||||
| BOE | The Fund invests, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its total assets in equity securities or options on equity securities or indices or sectors of equity securities. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 30% of its total assets at the time of investment in the equity securities of non-U.S. issuers. The Fund may invest in companies of any size market capitalization. The Fund generally intends to write covered put and call options with respect to approximately 45% to 65% of its total assets, although this percentage may vary from time to time with market conditions. | Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in dividend-paying equity securities and at least 40% of its assets outside of the U.S. (unless market conditions are not deemed favorable by Fund management, in which case the Fund would invest at least 30% of its assets outside of the U.S.). The Fund may invest in securities of companies of any market capitalization, but intends to invest primarily in securities of large capitalization companies. The Fund generally intends to write covered put and call options with respect to approximately 30% to 45% of its total assets, although this percentage may vary from time to time with market conditions. | ||||
In connection with these investment policy changes, effective on or about June 12, 2017, BGY will change its name to “BlackRock Enhanced International Dividend Trust” and BOE will change its name to “BlackRock Enhanced Global Dividend Trust”. BGY and BOE will continue to trade on the NYSE under their current ticker symbols. BGY and BOE will continue to pursue their primary investment objective of providing current income and current gains, with a secondary investment objective of long-term capital appreciation.
No action is required by BGY or BOE shareholders in connection with these investment policy changes.
Effective on or about June 12, 2017, BGY's and BOE’s portfolio management teams will each consist of Stuart Reeve, Andrew Wheatley-Hubbard, Kyle McClements, and Christopher Accettella. Biographies for each of the portfolio managers are set forth below.
Stuart Reeve, Managing Director, is the leader of the London-based Global Equity team within the Fundamental Active Equity business of BlackRock's Active Equity Group. The London-based Global Equity team and the Global Opportunities team together form the Global Equity Platform. Mr. Reeve's service with the firm dates back to 2005, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM), which merged with BlackRock in 2006. At MLIM, Mr. Reeve had primary responsibility for the Global Equity team's investments in food, beverage and tobacco. Prior to joining MLIM in 2005, he was a Pan-European food, beverage and tobacco analyst with Credit Agricole Asset Management. Mr. Reeve began his career with Touche Ross before joining Robert Fleming Securities, where he worked as a Pan-European beverages analyst. Mr. Reeve earned a BA degree, with honours, in economics and history at the University of East Anglia in 1984.
Andrew Wheatley-Hubbard, CFA, Director, is a member of the Global Equity Platform within Fundamental Equity, and is on the London-based Global Equity team. Mr. Wheatley-Hubbard acts as Director of Research for the team. Mr. Wheatley-Hubbard is responsible for covering Industrial and Materials stocks, specifically Transport, Commercial Services, Paper and Packaging. Mr. Wheatley-Hubbard has worked for BlackRock in both London and Hong Kong. In previous roles, he was responsible for covering Singaporean, Global Real Estate and Capital Goods equities. Mr. Wheatley-Hubbard earned a BA and a MEng degree in engineering from Cambridge University.
Kyle G. McClements, CFA, Managing Director, is a member of the Fundamental Equity platform within BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. He is a senior trader responsible for executing equity derivatives and options trades. Mr. McClements's service with the firm dates back to 2004, including his years with State Street Research & Management (SSRM), which merged with BlackRock in 2005. At SSRM, Mr. McClements was a Vice President and senior derivatives strategist responsible for equity derivative strategy and trading in the Quantitative Equity Group. Prior to joining SSRM in 2004, Mr. McClements was a senior trader/analyst at Deutsche Asset Management, responsible for derivatives, equity program, technology and energy sectors, and foreign exchange trading. Mr. McClements began his career in 1994 as a derivatives analyst with Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette responsible for pricing and performance analytics for the derivatives trading desk.
Christopher M. Accettella, Director, is a member of the Fundamental Equity platform within BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. He is a trader responsible for executing equity derivatives and options trades. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2005, Mr. Accettella was an institutional sales trader with American Technology Research. From 2001 to 2003, he was with Deutsche Asset Management where he was responsible for derivatives and program trading. Prior to that, he was a senior associate in the Pacific Basin Equity Group at Scudder Investments Singapore Limited. Mr. Accettella began his investment career in 1997 as a portfolio analyst in the European Equity group of Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc.
About BlackRock
BlackRock is a global leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients. At December 31, 2016, BlackRock’s AUM was $5.1 trillion. BlackRock helps clients around the world 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®. As of December 31, 2016, the firm had approximately 13,000 employees in more than 30 countries and a major presence in global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and Africa. For additional information, please visit the Company’s website at www.blackrock.com| Twitter: @blackrock_news | Blog: www.blackrockblog.com| LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock
Availability of Fund Updates
BlackRock will update performance and certain other data for the Funds on a monthly basis on its website in the “Closed-end Funds” section of www.blackrock.com as well as certain other material information as necessary from time to time. Investors and others are advised to check the website for updated performance information and the release of other material information about the Funds. This reference to BlackRock’s website is intended to allow investors public access to information regarding the Funds and does not, and is not intended to, incorporate BlackRock’s website in this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release, and other statements that BlackRock or the Funds may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to the Funds’ 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 Funds, 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 Funds or in the Funds’ net asset value; (2) the relative and absolute investment performance of the Funds 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 Funds 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 Funds 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 Funds. The information contained on BlackRock’s website is not a part of this press release.