Research house van Eyk has reshuffled the multi-manager line-up within its Blueprint Global Emerging Markets Fund.
Allocations to managers including Schroders, Lazard and Premium China were reduced to fund a new allocation to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The iShares ETF, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, will now have a 20 per cent weighting in the Blueprint portfolio.
The Schroders Global Emerging Markets Fund’s allocation was reduced to 10 per cent, from 24 per cent, while Lazard Emerging Markets was decreased from 18 per cent to 15 per cent.
Premium China Fund’s weighting in the product was reduced to 7 per cent, from 12.5 per cent.
“A key reason why we invested in the ETF was flexibility. The ETF offers intraday flexibility as opposed to daily rebalancing of an unlisted fund,” van Eyk chief executive Mark Thomas said.
“ETFs have been something we have been watching for some time. We have recently conducted some research around that and are more comfortable with selectively using them for Blueprint investors.
“While maintaining a slight overweight to Asia, this index exposure should assist with the long-term growth and near-term stability.”
Van Eyk’s Blueprint series has around $1.4 billion under management. ETFs can be bought and sold just like shares.
iShares Australia head Mark Oliver said super funds, family offices, hedge funds, asset managers and insurance companies were increasingly using ETFs for tactical and strategic purposes.
