iShares Closes 7 ETFs
The ETFs amount to nearly $88 million in assets.
BlackRock liquidated seven iShares ETFs, amounting to approximately $88 million in assets that will be returned to shareholders.
The iShares Trust board unanimously voted to dissolve the funds in June, according to updates to the prospectuses of each fund. A spokesperson for BlackRock said the vote came as part of an ongoing review of the firm’s ETF offerings, but did not offer further details about why the specific funds were chosen.
The liquidating funds are as follows:
| Ticker | Fund | AUM ($) | YTD Return | Spread % |
| AMCA | iShares Russell 1000 Pure U.S. Revenue ETF | $3.73M | 19.89% | 0.09% |
| DEFA | iShares Adaptive Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE ETF | $8.35M | 12.74% | 0.09% |
| HEWW | iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Mexico ETF | $723.65K | 13.55% | 0.17% |
| IPFF | iShares International Preferred Stock ETF | $48.62M | 8.98% | 0.38% |
| STLC | iShares Factors U.S. Blend Style ETF | $8.42M | 19.16% | 0.09% |
| STMB | iShares Factors U.S. Mid Blend Style ETF | $8.91M | 20.65% | 0.12% |
| STSB | iShares Factors U.S. Small Blend Style ETF | $9.49M | 17.64% | 0.26% |
Lack of liquidity seems to be the common theme among these funds, with 45-day spreads ranging between 0.09% and 0.38%. The closures also have a miniscule impact on the iShares brand, which is the largest U.S.-listed issuer of ETFs, with $2.31 trillion in assets as of last Thursday, according to ETF.com data provider FactSet.
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