BlackRock Latin American IT appoints Sam Vecht as manager

Mr Landers and two analysts based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, will leave BlackRock on 17 March. But Mr Vecht and Edward Kuczma have been in charge of BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust since 24 December, when Mr Landers departure was announced. The trust's board will review this management arrangement in 2019.

The trust has done well since Mr Landers started running it in March 2006, with a net asset value (NAV) total return of 7 per cent a year versus 5.5 per cent for MSCI Latin America index, according to broker Numis. And the trust's NAV performance has outperformed MSCI EM Latin America index in six out of the past 10 calendar years, according to Morningstar.

BlackRock Latin America was trading at a discount to NAV of 13.9 per cent at the end of 2018, slightly tighter than the 15 per cent it was on just before Mr Landers' departure was announced. Analysts at Numis say the wide discount is a reflection of negative sentiment towards the region. The trust’s share price has increased from 420p to 437.5p between 23 December 2018 and the end of the year.

Mr Vecht, who is head of BlackRock’s emerging Europe & frontiers team, has made good returns with BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust (BRFI), which he has run since 2010. BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust and BlackRock Emerging Markets Equity Strategies Fund (LU1715605942), which Mr Vecht has run since September 2015, have both invested in Latin America since launch. BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust had around 11 per cent and BlackRock Emerging Markets Equity Strategies had 17 per cent of its assets in Latin America at the end of November.

Mr Vecht joined Merrill Lynch in 2000 and this company merged with BlackRock in 2006. He has managed a number of investment trusts since 2004.

Mr Kuczma is a portfolio manager for BlackRock's Latin American equity funds and is part of its global emerging markets equity team. He has over 15 years of investment experience across many sectors and countries in Latin America.

“We would expect Ed Kuczma and Sam Vecht to put their stamp on the portfolio over time,” comment analysts at Numis. “We rate Sam Vecht highly... he typically takes a contrarian approach, looking for markets and companies trading at attractive valuations with a catalyst for improvement.”