Quadris Suspend Trading
The Fund Managers of the Quadris Environmental Fund have decided to suspend trading.
The decision to suspend the fund has been taken by the Board due to cash flow problems.
In other words, subscriptions to the fund have been less than withdrawals and the fund does not have sufficient funds to meet the request for withdrawals Trading in fund is suspended so that the fund is not forced to sell assets at a low price in order to meet the redemption requests.
There is an EGM on 14th April 2011 where the options and strategy will be discussed. Shareholders should receive the paperwork shortly.
This is clearly another frustrating development and follows on from the issue of Custodian Trustees in 2010 which also caused the fund to suspend trading.
An issue which is also mentioned in the letter you will have received from Quadris relates the fact that the FSA has recently classified the fund as an Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme.
We have had lengthy discussion within Investing Ethically about this and we are concerned about the implications for alternative ethical investments such as Quadris. T
Yhe investment has performed well over the years and fulfills many of the criteria ethical investors are looking for. However, with the UCIS classification, it becomes very difficult for IFA’s such as Investing Ethically to recommend the fund for regulatory reasons regardless of the ethical and performance credentials of the fund.
At the present time there is very little choice as to what you can do. All subscriptions and redemptions are suspended. The underlying forestry investments are still there and doing what they have always been doing (so nothing has changed on that front).
We are obviously happy to discuss your concerns and any options you have and suggest you give us a call.
This recent suspension is a disappointment to us all and we will do our best to keep you informed
