OREANDA-NEWS. BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust (BRLA) is a long-established, actively managed fund investing in Latin American equities. Manager William Landers runs a 50-75 stock portfolio that is diversified by country, sector and market capitalisation. BRLA aims to generate an attractive capital and total return, outperforming its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Latin American Index. Brazil represents more than half of the benchmark weighting and the manager has moved to an overweight exposure to the country following recent political developments. In anticipation of political and market reforms, his outlook for the region is more favourable than it has been for some time.

The current share price discount to cum-income net asset value of 11.0% compares to the average of 11.9% over the last 12 months. This is modestly wider than the averages of the last three, five and 10 years, which are 11.0%, 9.5% and 6.9% respectively. Following a decline in the revenue return in FY15, the board has prudently reduced the dividend to be more aligned with income. If the latest dividend payment is maintained, the shares are offering a prospective 2.6% yield, which is still the second highest in the peer group highlighted in Exhibit 9.  

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