Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

T. Rowe Price Emerging Europe Fund to close to all investors

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/313212/000174177323000146/c497.htm

497 1 c497.htm EEM STAT AND SUM STICKER 2.2.23
T. Rowe Price Emerging Europe Fund

Supplement to Prospectus and Summary Prospectus dated March 1, 2022, as supplemented
Effective Friday, February 17, 2023, the T. Rowe Price Emerging Europe Fund will close to all purchases. Accordingly, the summary prospectus and prospectus are updated as follows:

In the summary prospectus and section 1 of the prospectus, the disclosure under “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” is supplemented as follows:

Effective at the close of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, February 17, 2023, the fund will close to all purchases from new and existing shareholders.

Section 2 of the prospectus is supplemented as follows:

CLOSED TO NEW PURCHASES

Currently, the fund is generally closed to new investors and new accounts, subject to certain exceptions. Effective at the close of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, February 17, 2023, the fund will close to all purchases from new and existing shareholders. After February 17, 2023, even investors who already hold shares of the fund either directly with T. Rowe Price or through a retirement plan or financial intermediary may no longer purchase additional shares.

Shareholders with existing accounts may reinvest dividends and capital gains so long as they own shares of the fund in their account. In addition, the fund reserves the right, when in the judgment of T. Rowe Price it is not adverse to the fund’s interests, to permit certain types of purchases. The fund’s closure to additional purchases does not restrict existing shareholders from redeeming shares of the fund.

The date of this supplement is February 2, 2023.
F131-043 2/2/23

Comments

  • edited February 2023
    Year 2000 inception. Down for the full period by -49.47%. For the previous 1-year, to 02 Feb, it's down -80.38%. Share price at inception was typical: $10.00. Share price tonight = $2.96. Rather dismal. I suppose it's been exactly the wrong geographical area to open a new dedicated fund. Think about Hungarian nonsense with Orban. Think about the putrid leadership in Belarus, Russia. Think about the invasion of Ukraine. Moldova might be a bright spot, but there's corruption there, so I've read. But at least the leadership supports Ukraine. The Russian-led insurgency in Transnistria is like a boil on the ass of Progress, not to mention the injustice of it all. (Integrity of national borders, and all that good stuff. But that means nothing to the Poot-doink.)

    Montenegro: In 2015, the investigative journalists' network OCCRP named Montenegro's long-time President and Prime Minister Milo Đukanović "Person of the Year in Organized Crime." Dreadful.
    The wrong fund at the wrong time. But 23 years ago, things looked different, surely.
    For convenience, here's the ticker: TREMX.
  • Thanks for the additional data @Crash. Geez - There’s one I dodged.:)
  • edited February 2023
    The strategy had $400million+ in assets 10 years ago....now, $33million. It's been a tough time to focus on this part of the world. A tough 10 year run. Economics can't make sense to keep this running.
  • A few observations about this fund:
    • The fund modified its objective (region) on March 1, 2012. Prior to that, it was the Emerging Europe & Mediterranean Fund. (Summary Prospectus, March 1, 2012)
    • Russia was always the 800 lb gorilla in the fund, much more so after 2012.
    • There were two major swoons in performance: 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia, and 2022 when, well, we all know that. In both instances, the market plummet began months before the actual invasions (5/19/2008 vs. 8/8/2008, and 10/25/2021 vs. 2/24/2022)
    • But for the current invasion that shut down the Russian stock market for a month, the fund would have been (slightly) profitable in its current incarnation (since March 2012), let alone over its full life. The fund lost 88.84% between 10/25/2021 and 3/7/2022, accounting for more than its total loss of 81.09% since the end of February 2012.
    Some more data:

    The fund had 67.4% of its assets in Russia as of 10/31/2021, and lost 58.5% in Feb 2022 alone.
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/hanktucker/2022/03/01/these-15-stocks-and-10-funds-are-overexposed-to-russia-and-ukraine/?sh=7daecfe76e1f

    Back in Oct. 2008 when the fund was still investing in the Mediterranean, 16% of its holdings were in Egypt while 60% of its holdings were in Russia. Stocks in each of those countries fell around 60% between April and October 2008.
    2008 Annual Report

    Since March 2012, TREMX had a 94% coefficient of correlation with LETRX (proxy for Russia).
    Portfolio Visualizer correlations

    Prior to March 2012, TREMX had "just" an 88% correlation with LETRX. Its correlation with NEWFX (a broad based EM fund) was slightly higher at 90%. Though TREMX still had volatility resembling Russia's.
    Portfolio Visualizer correlations

    Unless otherwise labeled, all data from M* charts.

  • yup. holy cow.
  • Thanks msf - great data.
Sign In or Register to comment.