Investor kicks off row at a Blackrock mining fund
A MAJOR shareholder in a key Blackrock mining fund is trying to kickstart an investor revolt over its share price performance.
Fund manager City of London Investment Group has sent a complaint to the directors of Blackrock World Mining Trust.
City of London, which has a 7.1 per cent stake in Blackrock WMT, recognised the strong performance during the three years to October but added: “We are disappointed that this good investment record is not more fully reflected in the share price, which remains at an unreasonably large discount to net asset value.”
The fund said this was the third letter it had sent to Blackrock since April last year and action is “long overdue”.
John Newlands, head of investment companies research at Brewin Dolphin said the discount is “unsatisfactorily wide”. Blackrock did not comment.
The spat is the latest example of a fund coming under attack from activist investors. In May, Alliance Trust fought off Laxey Partners’ call to set out an automatic buyback policy.