This'll go down well with Joe Public and the financial planners:-
Suncorp freezes funds Primary fund still opened Christine St Anne By Christine St Anne Fri 25 Jan 2008 www.investordaily.com
Suncorp has frozen four of its Australian equities funds as it seeks to sort out the tax implications for its investors.
Suncorp's Australian Equities High Alpha Trust, the Wholesale Australian Equities High Alpha Fund, the Australian Equities Long Short Trust and the Ethical Balanced Fund will no longer be accepting investor funds.
The firm's Australian Equity Trust, which manages the bulk of Suncorp's $4.7 billion equity portfolio remains opened.
The decision to freeze the funds was due to capital gains implications.
The funds will not be accepting or withdrawing any money until Suncorp sorts out the capital gains implications.
The funds only had a small number of investors in them and so we wanted to ensure that all investors were treated fairly and equally, a Suncorp spokesperson told Investordaily.
The decision comes after the defection of Suncorp's entire Australian equities team in November 2007.
The Queensland-based equities team had left the firm to establish the boutique, Solaris, which was seeded by Wilson HTM owned fund incubator Pinnacle Investment Management.
Suncorp appointed its general manager of investment strategy, Stephen Lam, as interim head of equities until a more permanent solution could be found.
Research firm Morningstar downgraded Suncorp's Australian equities capability as a result of the team's defection.
SUN Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Not Held
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