BlackRock Strategic Global Bond Instl MAWIX Fund Analysis

BlackRock portfolio manager Trevor Slaven has left the firm in August 2024 to pursue other opportunities. At the time, Slaven was a named portfolio manager on BlackRock Strategic Global Bond fund. Portfolio managers Rick Rieder, Amer Bisat, and Russell Brownback continue to lead the charge at the strategy with the addition of portfolio manager Dylan Price effective Aug. 20, 2024. Rieder, CIO of global fixed income at the firm, and Bisat, BlackRock’s global head of emerging-markets debt, have been present at the strategy since 2015, with managers Brownback and Slaven joining the ranks in October 2018. Collectively Rieder, Brownback, and Slaven were responsible for macro positioning, while Brownback and Slaven took care of the day-to-day management of the fund. Rieder remains ultimately responsible for the strategy, however. Price joined BlackRock in 2015 and has supported the portfolio managers on this strategy with portfolio construction and macroeconomic research. While Slaven’s departure is unfortunate for future succession, we are comforted by the continued presence of experienced, veteran investors Rieder, Bisat, and Brownback, who boast more than three decades’ experience each, and the depth of firm resources that back the team. We maintain our People Pillar rating of High given these strengths that remain intact, and we will continue to observe how the team, with the addition of Price, work together.