Fund Merger - UBS (Lux) Equity Fund - Taiwan
UBS Fund Management have advised that it will be merging its UBS (Lux) Equity Fund–Taiwan (the ‘merging’ fund) into the UBS (Lux) Equity SICAV–Asian Small Companies fund on 29 October 2015.
Why UBS is merging the fund
The net assets of the merging fund have fallen to a level which no longer allows the fund to be managed in an economically reasonable manner. In addition, both the merging fund and the Asian Small Companies fund are managed by the same portfolio manager and therefore UBS feel it is in investors’ best interests to merge the two funds together.
How the merger affects policyholders
The UBS (Lux) Equity SICAV–Asian Small Companies fund is not part of the fund menu available to Oracle, Paragon and Quantum, and as we do not plan to add the fund to the ranges it will be necessary to switch holdings into an alternative fund that is currently available before the merger completes.
The alternative fund we have selected is the JPMorgan Taiwan (USD), a single country fund also investing in Taiwanese companies.
When UBS issued the merger notification on 18 September 2015, they also took the decision to immediately close the merging fund to further subscriptions. Therefore, we can no longer accept any premiums into the fund from existing or new investors. For investors who are currently paying regular premiums into the fund, we have had to immediately redirect their future premium payments into the JPMorgan Taiwan (USD) fund to ensure continued investment of premiums.
Around the 12 October 2015, we will switch policyholder’s existing unit holdings from the merging fund into the JPMorgan Taiwan (USD), to ensure all holdings are transferred out before the redemption cut-off date.
Alternative fund choice
If policyholders, or appointed investment advisers, are not happy with holdings being transferred into the JPMorgan Taiwan fund they can choose to switch into any other fund available free of charge.
They can provide alternative instructions either by submitting a completed Fund switch instruction form, or if registered a registered user of our Online Service Centre and fund switching facility, conducting a switch and premium redirection online. All switches are free of charge.
We have issued letters to any Oracle, Paragon and Quantum policyholders affected by the merger. Where an investment adviser is appointed, they will receive our notification instead of the policyholder. Servicing financial advisers attached to these policies will receive a copy of the letter for their information.
Sample letters can be viewed opposite.