BlackRock Files to Add ETF Share Classes to Five Active Funds

BlackRock has filed to add ETF share classes to five active mutual funds with nearly $55 billion in combined assets. The proposed classes cover its High Yield Portfolio, Strategic Municipal Opportunities Fund, California Municipal Opportunities Fund, New York Municipal Opportunities Fund and Equity Dividend Fund. If approved and launched, each ETF class would trade on an exchange while sharing the same underlying portfolio as its mutual fund counterpart. Existing mutual fund shareholders would not need to move their investments. The filings would give investors an exchange-traded route into established BlackRock strategies across high yield bonds, municipal bonds and dividend equities, without creating five separate portfolios. The ETF classes remain proposed and cannot be sold until their registration statements become effective.