Equity Trustees (EQT) has indicated there is no set timeframe in which investors will be able to recover their investments from the terminated EQT Lehman Brothers Wholesale High Income Fund.
The EQT Lehman Brothers Wholesale High Income Fund was terminated in May. A month later United States securities firm Lehman Brothers closed its Australian funds management arm, Lehman Brothers Asset Management (LBAM).
EQT will continue to manage the fund for the next 45 days, after which time another as yet unknown manager will take over, EQT business development manager Boyd Peters told an adviser briefing on Friday.
The fund will remain open for as long as it takes to sell the assets at a reasonable price, Peters said.
Despite the tough past 12 months in credit markets the fund will take a longer-term view with winding down assets; LBAM chief executive Paul O'Halloran still believes " the credit in these portfolios is strong".
While credit markets have seen some improvement over the last two months, O'Halloran does not believe that they will recover enough within the next six months to warrant selling off assets.
The fund's assets are expected to continue to generate income and investors can expect to receive distributions, according to EQT and Lehman Brothers.
Following the closure of the EQT Lehman Brothers High Income, research house Standard and Poor's has withdrawn the fund's three-star rating, while Morningstar dropped its rating from recommended to avoid.
