Fund Updates
You should be aware that the value of your investment may go down and you may get back less than you invested.
Here you will find information about recent fund changes and any updated documents related to these changes.
February 2025
Changes to the NFU Mutual Unit-Linked Funds
With effect from 1st March 2025, changes will be made that apply to our Unit-Linked products listed below:
- Capital Investment Bond
- Flexible Retirement Account
- Flexibond
- Managed Fund Plan
- Personal Pension Account
- Personal Pension Plan (including Group Pension Plan)
- Stakeholder Pension Plan (including Group Stakeholder Pension Plan)
- Trustee Investment Plan
We will make some changes to the following funds:
- NFU Mutual International Equity Fund
- NFU Mutual UK Equity Fund
- NFU Mutual UK Equity Income Fund
- NFU Mutual Property Fund
- NFU Mutual Index Linked Fund
- NFU Mutual Fixed Interest Fund
- NFU Mutual Deposit Fund
In summary we are:
- Making changes to the investment objective and policy for each fund.
- Introducing target benchmarks for the funds. These are well known indices that can be used to compare the performance of your investment.
These changes are aimed at giving you a better idea about how the funds are managed and how they perform. We won’t be changing the way the funds are managed on a day-to-day basis.
For the NFU Mutual UK Equity Income Fund only we have also made an amendment to the investment structure. However, this doesn’t change how the fund is managed. The change to this fund was effective from 24th January 2025.
More details of the changes including the revised wording for each fund are available in the Fund Changes.
January 2025
Changes to the abrdn Global Sustainable and Responsible Investment Equity Fund
With effect from 20th February 2025, abrdn Fund Managers Limited will make some changes to the abrdn Global Sustainable and Responsible Investment Equity Fund which is available through the My Investments products (Select ISA including Junior ISA, Select Pension, and Select Investment Plan).
These changes are as result of new regulations that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have implemented. This introduces new measures which set out the criteria and standards for sustainable investment products. The aim of these measures is to help investors navigate sustainable investment products and enhance transparency. One of the key changes these measures introduce are labels on investment funds that have a specific environmental or social goal.
The investment labels prescribed by the FCA are:
| Sustainability Focus | Sustainability Improvers | Sustainability Impact | Sustainability Mixed Goals |
|
Funds that invest mainly in assets that focus on sustainability for people or the planet. |
Funds that invest mainly in assets that may not be sustainable now, but aim to improve their sustainability. | Funds that invest mainly in solutions to sustainability problems with an aim to achieve a positive impact for people or the planet. | Funds that invest mainly in a mix of assets that either focus on sustainability, aim to improve their sustainability over time, or aim to achieve a positive impact for people or the planet. |
We have detailed some of the key changes below:
Fund name
| Current fund name | New fund name |
| abrdn Global Sustainable and Responsible Investment Equity Fund | abrdn Global Sustainable Equity Fund |
Investment objective and policy
| Current investment objective and policy | New investment objective and policy |
| Sustainability Disclosure Requirement Not applicable |
Sustainability Disclosure Requirement This fund applies all required criteria to make use of the ‘Sustainability Focus’ investment label. |
|
Investment objective |
Investment objective To generate growth over the long term (five years or more) by investing in global equities (company shares) that manage adverse environmental impacts and promote societal welfare in one or more of the four thematic areas of – climate change, the environment, labour management, and human rights & stakeholders, through their business operations OR their products and services. |
|
Performance target |
Performance target The MSCI AC World Index is a stock market index which consists of global equities. It’s important to note that due to the sustainable nature of the fund its performance may differ to the index. |
|
Investment policy The fund may also invest in other funds (including those managed by abrdn), money-market instruments and cash.
abrdn applies a set of company exclusions relating to the principles of the UN Global Compact, tobacco manufacturing, thermal coal, gambling, oil & gas and weapons. |
Investment policy The fund may invest up to 20% in companies that do not align with the sustainability objective provided they do not conflict with the sustainability objective. The fund may also invest in other funds (including those managed by abrdn), money market instruments, cash and derivatives for liquidity and cash flow management purposes. abrdn applies a set of company exclusionary screens which are related to UN Global Compact, State Owned Enterprises, Weapons, Tobacco, Gambling, Thermal Coal, Oil & Gas and Electricity Generation. If a company is caught by any of these exclusions, it will not be held by the fund. |
abrdn Fund Managers will make these changes to ensure the fund remains a sustainable investment fund as required by the new FCA regulation. Full details of all changes are available in the abrdn Fund Circular.
You do not need to take any action; however, it is important that you consider the changes and assess whether the investment remains aligned to your sustainability criteria.
If you have any questions, please speak to your NFU Mutual Financial Adviser or call us on 0800 622 323 (option 2).
September 2024
Changes to the abrdn UK Real Estate Feeder Fund
Following a vote on the proposed changes to the abrdn UK Real Estate Feeder Fund we can confirm that the changes were approved and will become effective on the 2 October 2024.
Please refer to the August 2024 update below to remind yourself of the key changes.
The only immediate changes effective on 2 October 2024 will be a change in the funds name and a reduction in the annual management charge. The asset allocation of the fund will be transitioned over a period of up to 18 to 24 months.
If you have any questions, please speak to your NFU Mutual Financial Adviser or call us on 0800 622 323 (option 2).
Alternatively, please visit our Fund Centre for further information about this fund.
August 2024
Proposed changes to the abrdn UK Real Estate Feeder Fund
abrdn Fund Managers Limited have proposed changes to the abrdn UK Real Estate Feeder Fund available through the My Investments products.
We have summarised the key changes below:
- The direct UK property holdings will be reduced from around 85% to around 45% of its total value in such assets.
- The fund will increase its indirect exposure to property through investment in real estate investment trusts (REITs), exchange traded funds (ETFs), and shares of companies engaged in property and property related activities. It will aim to hold 45% of its total value in such assets. Due to these changes the associated underlying risks of the fund will change over time and are likely to increase. This is due to the introduction of more volatile assets in REITs, ETFs, and shares as well as the addition of some currency risk. In the short term the fund risk rating will not change.
- The fund will change its target benchmark from the IA UK Direct Property sector to a composite benchmark (45% MSCI UK Monthly Property Index, 45% FTSE EPRA Nareit Developed Net Total Return Index, 10% Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA)) to ensure that it reflects the wider range of assets the fund invests in.
- The annual management charge will be reduced from 0.75% to 0.60%.
- The fund will change its name from the abrdn UK Real Estate Feeder Fund to the abrdn Real Estate Feeder Fund.
The proposed changes require a unitholder vote to be approved. We will vote in line with the views of NFU Mutual investors and have detailed how to vote via an investor communication for customers invested in the fund and the outcome of the vote will be detailed on this webpage.
We have assessed the proposed changes and believe that they are beneficial to investors.
Full details of the proposed changes are available in the abrdn Fund Circular.
If you have any questions, please speak to your NFU Mutual Financial Adviser or call us on 0800 622 323 (option 2).
February 2024
Changes to the NFU Mutual OEIC sub-funds through My Investments
With effect from 26th April 2024, we will change the names of the following sub-funds:
- NFU Mutual Gilt & Corporate Bond Fund
- NFU Mutual UK Growth Fund
- NFU Mutual Global Growth Fund
We will also make changes to the investment objective and policy for each of these sub-funds and the NFU Mutual UK Equity Income Fund.
These changes do not alter the way the sub-funds are managed, and you do not need to take any action.
More details of the changes including the revised wording for each fund are available in Fund Changes [PDF: 55KB].
