Notification of closure of R223 DWS Invest Africa

16 Apr 2025

Notification of closure of investment-linked policy (“ILP”) sub-fund:

• R223 DWS Invest Africa (the “Affected ILP sub-fund”)

We have received notification from the board of directors of DWS Invest SICAV (the “Company”) of its resolution to place the underlying fund of the Affected ILP sub-fund into liquidation with effect from 10 April 2025. The Company states that the net asset value of the underlying fund of the Affected ILP sub-fund has decreased to an amount which it considers to be below the minimum level required to be operated and managed in an economically efficient manner. 

In order to ensure equal treatment of all unit holders, from 10 April 2025 the underlying fund of the Affected ILP sub-fund ceased to accept new investment or redemption requests. A redemption period will be in place from 25 April to 15 May 2025, with the underlying fund to be fully liquidated from 16 May 2025 (the “Underlying Fund Liquidation”).

Accordingly, the Affected ILP sub-fund has been closed to new investment, switches-out and redemptions with immediate effect and will be closed and removed from the FPIL fund range from 29 April 2025 (the “Effective Date”), ahead of the Underlying Fund Liquidation. 

When a FPIL ILP sub-fund is closed, we select another fund from our internal fund range (the “Default Replacement ILP sub-fund”) to act as an alternative investment for the resulting proceeds being switched out of the closing fund. We have selected R150 JPM Emerging Markets Small Cap as the Default Replacement ILP sub-fund. 

We select a Default Replacement ILP sub-fund based on various factors, which include but are not limited to, (1) investment objective and strategy, (2) assets mix, (3) risk profile and (4) currency denomination. Whilst appropriate due diligence has been carried out on the Default Replacement ILP-sub-fund we do not accept any liability for the future performance of this, or any other FPIL ILP sub-fund.

Comparative information between the Affected ILP sub-fund and the Default Replacement ILP sub-fund can be found in the Appendix in the sample client communication opposite.

Any regular premium allocation which would usually be applied to the Affected ILP sub-fund has been automatically redirected to the Default Replacement ILP sub-fund. 

All holdings in the Affected ILP sub-fund will be switched into the corresponding Default Replacement ILP sub-fund from the Effective Date.

This change will happen automatically within affected policies/contracts and policyholders do not need to take any action if they agree with the choice of Default Replacement ILP sub-fund that we have selected. 

Policyholders can choose to switch their current holdings, and/or redirect regular premiums if applicable, into different ILP sub-fund(s) in the FPIL range.  In order to override the transfer of existing holdings to the Default Replacement ILP sub-fund, we require alternative instructions by 12pm UK time on 28 April 2025.  Please note that any instructions submitted will only be actioned as of the Effective Date, due to the suspension period in place. 

Factsheets for the available FPIL ILP sub-funds can be found via our interactive Fund Centre research tool. Full details on the underlying funds into which the FPIL ILP sub-funds invest can be found in the corresponding fund prospectus, which is available on request from the respective fund manager.

We recommend that policyholders seek the advice of their usual financial adviser before making any investment decisions. 

We have contacted impacted policyholders and their financial advisers to notify them of the change; primarily by e-shot, with letters sent by post where we do not hold a valid email, and to those who prefer to receive letters by post. 

Should you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact the Investment Marketing Team.