Fund Merger - Threadneedle Pan European Fund

Reason for the merger

Columbia Threadneedle has begun a process to transfer the assets of investors in certain funds within their UK fund range to equivalent funds in its established Luxembourg range. This is to ensure that its EU-based investors remain invested in funds that have a UCITS* status, because Columbia Threadneedle believe it is likely that when the UK leaves the European Union UK domiciled funds will lose this status. 

The transfer process includes 20 funds from the UK-based range with the launch of 13 new funds in the Luxembourg range. 6 of the UK funds will close in their entirety whilst the remaining 14 will merge just the EUR and USD currency funds across, leaving the GBP currency funds to continue to operate in its UK range. The Columbia Threadneedle shareholder notification opposite details all the funds affected. 

The new Luxembourg funds will only launch on the merger date, therefore we will not be able to offer you and your clients access to the Luxembourg receiving funds until after the merger takes place. 

Shareholder approval has now been reached for the full closure and merger of the 6 funds on 6 October 2018.

Action to be taken for Open-architecture policyholders

On the merger date, any holdings in the 6 closing and merging UK-based funds will automatically transfer to the equivalent receiving Luxembourg fund, unless we are instructed otherwise before this date. 
 

Action to be taken for Guided-architecture policyholders

Out of the 6 closing and merging funds, the products only feature the Pan European Fund. On or around the merger date, we will automatically transfer holdings into the Luxembourg equivalent fund unless we are instructed otherwise before this date. For regular payment policies, premium allocations will also be redirected to the receiving fund. 

Please note that we have now closed this fund to new business and switches in, but we can accept switches out up to a few days prior to the merger. 

We have written to our guided-architecture policyholders, or their appointed investment adviser, who are impacted by the mergers informing them of the action we will be taking and their option for switching to a new fund if they prefer. Servicing financial advisers will receive a sample of the letter for their information. 

You can view samples of the policyholder and investment adviser letters opposite along with the Columbia Threadneedle notifications. 

*UCITS stands for Undertaking in Collective Investments in Transferable Securities. UCITS funds can be sold to any investor within the European Union under a harmonised regulatory regime. 

_______________________________________________________________________ 

For more information about Columbia Threadneedle visit www.columbiathreadneedle.com/