
8
BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc
| Annual Report and Financial Statements 31 December 2022
Discount management and
new discount control
mechanism
The Board remains committed to taking
appropriate action to ensure that the
Company’s shares do not trade at a
significant discount to their prevailing
NAV and have sought to reduce
discount volatility by offering
shareholders a new discount control
mechanism covering the four years to
31 December 2025. This mechanism
will offer shareholders a tender for
24.99% of the shares in issue excluding
treasury shares (at a tender price
reflecting the latest cum-income NAV
less 2% and related portfolio realisation
costs) in the event that the continuation
vote to be put to the Company’s AGM in
2026 is approved, where either of the
following conditions have been met:
(i)
the annualised total NAV return of
the Company does not exceed the
annualised benchmark index (being
the MSCI EM Latin America Index)
US Dollar (net return) by more than
50 basis points over the four year
period from 1 January 2022 to
31 December 2025 (the Calculation
Period); or
(ii)
the average daily discount to the
cum-income NAV exceeds 12% as
calculated with reference to the
trading of the shares over the
Calculation Period.
In respect of the above conditions, the
Company’s total NAV return on a
US Dollar basis for the year ended
31 December 2022 was +6.6%,
underperforming the benchmark return
of +8.9% over the year by
2.3 percentage points. The cum-income
discount of the Company’s ordinary
shares has averaged 8.9% for the year
ending 31 December 2022.
Other than the shares repurchased
under the tender offer implemented in
May 2022, the Company has not
bought back any shares during the year
ended 31 December 2022 and up to the
date of publication of this report (no
shares were bought back in the year to
31 December 2021).
Change of portfolio manager
As announced on 9 September 2022,
Sam Vecht, who has co-managed the
portfolio alongside Ed Kuczma since
December 2018, became the lead
portfolio manager of the Company with
Mr Kuczma stepping down from his
role. Christoph Brinkmann has been
appointed as deputy portfolio manager.
Mr Vecht is a Managing Director in
BlackRock’s Global Emerging Markets
Equities team and has extensive Latin
American experience in the investment
trust sector, having managed a number
of UK investment trusts since 2004. He
has also been portfolio manager for the
BlackRock Emerging Markets Equity
Strategies Fund since September 2015,
and the BlackRock Frontiers Investment
Trust plc since 2010, both of which have
invested in the Latin American region
since launch.
Mr Brinkmann, a Vice President in the
Global Emerging Markets Equities
Team, has covered multiple sectors and
countries across the Latin American
region. He joined BlackRock in 2015
after graduating from the University of
Cologne with a Masters in Finance and
a CEMS Masters in International
Management.
Mr Vecht and Mr Brinkmann are
supported by the extensive resources
and significant expertise of BlackRock’s
Global Emerging Market team which
has a proven track record in emerging
market equities. The team is made up of
c.40 investment professionals
researching over 1,000 companies
across the global emerging markets
universe inclusive of Latin America.
Your Board notes that Mr Vecht’s new
role as lead portfolio manager provides
continuity for the Company and
welcomes the addition of Mr Brinkmann
to the team as deputy portfolio
manager. The Board are grateful to
Mr Kuczma for his commitment and
contribution to the Company and wish
him well in his future endeavours.
Board composition
As previously advised in last year’s
Annual Report, Professor Doctor has
indicated that she will not seek
re-election at the 2023 AGM. The Board
wishes to thank Professor Doctor for her
many years of excellent service, we wish
her the best for the future.
Annual General Meeting
The Company’s Annual General
Meeting will be held in person at the
offices of BlackRock at 12 Throgmorton
Avenue, London EC2N 2DL on Monday,
22 May 2023 at 12.00 noon. Details of
the business of the meeting are set out
in the Notice of Annual General Meeting
on pages 122 to 125.
The Board very much looks forward to
meeting shareholders and answering
any question you may have on the day.
We hope you can attend this year’s
AGM; a buffet lunch will be made
available to shareholders who have
attended the AGM.
Outlook
The end of years of government and
central banks creating ultra low interest
rates, heavily intervening in the bond
markets and creating excess money was
never likely to be smooth. Sharp
adjustments in specific areas are
starting to emerge such as UK pensions
Liability Driven Investing (LDI)
problems in September 2022 and the
collapse of US banks such as SVB in
March 2023. It would be unduly
optimistic not to expect more problems
to suddenly emerge. Despite the fact
that central banks in Latin America
have not pursued these monetary
policies, Latin America could remain
vulnerable to getting caught in a fallout
of repricing of risk globally. However, we
believe once this adjustment is behind
us the longer term fundamentals are
much better in emerging markets than
in developed markets, especially in
Latin America. Central banks in the
region have been ahead of the curve
during this tightening cycle and most
countries in the region are now offering
some of the highest real interest rates
in the world.
The region is rich in natural resources,
including fossil fuels of crude oil and
natural gas, creating favourable supply
and demand dynamics. It is also a major
source of copper and lithium, critical
materials for the green energy revolution.
With the removal of Russia from western
supply chains, the importance of Latin
America in these markets has increased.
The post COVID-19 trend for companies
to move away from off-shoring
(especially in China) to near-shoring
should also benefit the Latin American
region and your Board believes Mexico
will continue to be an even stronger
global beneficiary of new marginal
foreign direct investment flows.
Carolan Dobson
Chairman
29 March 2023