BlackRock Latin American Inv. Trust

LSE: BRLA

Market Cap£109m

Last Close 369.5p

BRLA seeks long-term capital growth and an attractive total return, primarily through investing in quoted Latin American securities. The trust was launched in 1990 and management was transferred to BlackRock on 31 March 2006 following a tender process. The managers follow a mainly bottom-up approach (taking top-down views into account) that is flexible but seeks growth at a reasonable price. The trust has an indefinite life subject to a two-yearly continuation vote. The benchmark is the MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index.

More BlackRock Latin American Inv. Trust content >

Investment summary

BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust (BRLA) has a new manager. Effective from 9 September 2022, former co-manager Sam Vecht was promoted to lead manager, while Christoph Brinkmann was appointed BRLA’s deputy manager, replacing former co-manager Ed Kuczma. Vecht says that the world is fractured, with rising inflation and interest rates, corporates struggling to grow and extreme political tension. He comments that these issues are not new for Latin America, while, following the recent Brazilian presidential election, the political environment in the region is more benign than normal. Vecht notes that a more stable environment in Latin America compared with developed markets is unusual. Inflation in the region has been brought under control and central banks have followed orthodox monetary policies so real interest rates in Latin America are positive, unlike in Europe and the United States, for example. The manager comments that Latin American companies are coming out of their shells, and he is finding interesting growth opportunities in the region.