BlackRock Offshore USD LEAF Aaa
Moody's recently announced it's assignment of a Aaa-mf rating to the Blackrock's ICS USD and Sterling Liquid Environmentally Aware Funds. The press release, entitled, "`Moody's Aaf-mf rating to BlackRock ICS Sterling [and USD] Liquid Environmentally Aware Fund" tells us, "The money market fund seeks to provide a return in line with money market rates consistent with preservation of principal and liquidity. At least 80% of the fund's net assets will be invested in securities that meet the fund's environmental criteria as well as other characteristics, including social and governance factors. The fund will also have a number of environmental, social and governance provisions including those that limit investments in companies that derive a significant portion of their revenue from non-renewable energy sources, tobacco and civilian firearms. Earlier this month, Moody's took action on the BlackRock ICS Euro Liquid Environmentally Aware Fund." It explains, "The Sterling fund will be launched on 22 July 2019. The fund will operate under a short term variable net asset value (VNAV) structure domiciled in Ireland. It will offer a t+0 settlement [and] will start with seed money from the manager and will be marketed to external shareholders. Moody's expects modest shareholder concentration risk during the fund's ramp-up period to diminish as the fund grows in size and its shareholder base diversifies." The release adds, "The Fund intends to invest in high credit quality securities, primarily short-dated commercial paper and deposit securities, reverse repurchase agreements as well as short-dated bonds from government, agency, corporate and financial issuers. The Fund's weighted average maturity (WAM) is expected to be below 60 days and we expect the Fund to maintain a strong liquidity profile supported by high levels of overnight and weekly liquidity in the portfolio, in excess of the regulatory requirements. As a result, we expect the Fund to have a low exposure to market risk." (For more, see our July 22 Crane Data News, "BlackRock Launches First Offshore ESG MMF; ICS LEAF in EUR, GBP, USD.")
