Many of our clients invest with the Allan Gray-Orbis rand denominated offshore funds. As you may or may not know, these funds are now temporarily closed for discretionary investments.
WHY ARE THE FUNDS CLOSING?
The exchange control regulations of the South African Reserve Bank allow unit trust companies to invest up to 35% of their retail assets under management in foreign investments. Due to the weakness of the rand, strong performance of our underlying foreign funds and the continued popularity of these funds, we no longer have capacity to make any further foreign investments. Allan Gray will reopen the funds as soon as we have sufficient capacity.
The temporary closure, that took effect today (1 February, 2014), will only affect the following funds:
• Allan Gray-Orbis Global Equity Feeder Fund
• Allan Gray-Orbis Global Fund of Funds
• Allan Gray-Orbis Global Optimal Fund of Funds
How does this affect our clients?
The above funds will no longer be available for new discretionary investments. However, existing debit order arrangements will be allowed to continue unaltered. You will still be able to choose these funds as your underlying investments in the following Allan Gray products:
• Allan Gray Endowment
• Allan Gray Living Annuity
• Allan Gray Pension Preservation Fund
• Allan Gray Provident Preservation Fund
• Allan Gray Retirement Annuity Fund
Using your own offshore allowance to invest in the Orbis funds
You can use your own offshore allowance to access the Orbis funds and funds from other offshore managers via our offshore platform.
If you have any questions, please contact your financial adviser or email us at markw@life-force.co.za.