T. Rowe Price to close to new investors fund that invested in Russian securities

NEW YORK Reuters – Asset management firm T. Rowe Price plans to close to new investors its Emerging Europe Fund starting from May 9, it said in a regulatory filing this week, after marking the funds Russian securities down to zero last month.

The 30 million fund, which invests at least 80 of its assets in stocks of companies located in European emerging markets including Eastern Europe and Russia, was down about 83 in the first three months of this year, according to a fact sheet on the T. Rowe Price website.

“Effective at the close of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, May 9, 2022, the fund will close to new investors and new accounts,” T. Rowe Price said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

Investors who already hold positions in the fund may redeem their shares or continue to buy additional shares.

A T. Rowe Price spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last month, T. Rowe Price said Russian securities held in the funds portfolio would be valued effectively at zero after Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

“The Russian equity market has become largely uninvestable and it is uncertain when these restrictions on trading Russian securities will be relieved,” it said in a filing in March.

The move followed an announcement by index provider MSCI that it would remove Russian securities from its MSCI Emerging Markets Indices starting from March 9.