The asset manager, boasting one of the largest ETF businesses globally, has notified investors it will be rebranding a handful of sub-funds from five of its mutual fund ranges, including the BlackRock Collective Investment Funds and Global Index divisions.
Among the funds in line for a makeover, are its £1.05bn BlackRock US Equity tracker, the £828.1m BlackRock 100 UK Equity Tracker, and the relatively new Green Bond Index Fund, launched this March.
The changes will be purely cosmetic in nature and will not effect on the operations, performance, tickers or cost of the index funds, the firm stressed.
Instead of having BlackRock in the title of the tracker, the selected funds will now be renamed under the iShares moniker.
The iShares brand has played a critical role in the American fund group’s ETF offering, since it was first purchased by BlackRock in 2009, alongside parent company Barclays Global Investors.
According to the firm, the rationale for extending the use of the iShares brand is to bring greater clarity to BlackRock’s full suite of index solutions for the benefit of clients.
As a spokesperson from the asset manager put it: “This renaming brings greater clarity to our full suite of index solutions that investors can use to build stronger, more efficient, precise investment portfolios.
“This initiative creates a more consistent naming convention across BlackRock’s index products.”
