Fund Merger - JPM Global Consumer Trends Fund
The Board of Directors for the JPMorgan Funds has advised that it will be merging its JPM Global Consumer Trends Fund into its JPM Global Unconstrained Equity Fund on 27 March 2015.
Why is JPMorgan merging the fund?
A review identified significant redemptions and limited prospects of attracting new investments into the fund. Furthermore, considerable overlap was identified between the investment strategy of the merging fund and that of the receiving fund, the JPM Global Unconstrained Equity Fund.
Key differences in investment policy between the merging fund and the receiving fund
The receiving fund will primarily invest in an unconstrained portfolio of equity securities, globally whereas the merging fund invests primarily in equity securities of companies benefiting from consumer driven opportunities.
JPMorgan state that the potential benefits of merging the assets into the receiving fund is that it offers investors a more diversified strategy which is not constrained and that has broader exposure to all the key investment themes driving global equity markets. The merger will give investors the opportunity of investing in a fund that has the prospect of stronger growth in assets in the future.
What happens now?
We have written to policyholders to notify them of the merger. Where there is an appointed investment adviser on the policy, the investment adviser will receive this correspondence instead. Samples of these letters can be viewed opposite. Servicing advisers will receive a copy of the letter for their records.
The JPM Global Unconstrained Equity Fund has now been added to the Oracle, Paragon and Quantum fund range as a new fund option.
The merging fund has been removed from the Oracle, Paragon and Quantum product ranges with immediate effect, and we will longer accept any new, non contractual, investments into the fund. Existing investors can continue to invest contractual regular premiums (where applicable) into the fund until 12 March 2015 at which point we will then switch their holdings from the merging fund into the receiving fund. We will also redirect regular premiums into this fund, where applicable.
We have taken the decision to do this ahead of the merger for the best interests of policyholders, as it is likely that the merging fund may experience a large number of redemptions as the closing date approaches, thereby reducing its total fund size. We also expect the transition to be quicker than waiting for the merger, meaning policyholders should be out of the market for less time.
What other options are available?
If policyholders, or appointed investment advisers, do not want to switch their holding into the JPM Global Unconstrained Equity Fund, they can tell us at any point up until 12 March 2015, by providing 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.
What if policyholders/investment advisers miss the deadline for sending in an alternative fund choice?
Dont worry. Although we will automatically transfer existing holdings and also redirect any regular premiums into the JPM Global Unconstrained Equity Fund, policyholders/appointed investment advisers can change this at any time by returning a completed Fund switch instruction form or by performing a switch online.