MLC Market Watch

The Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund (the Fund) continues to be suspended. However, Colonial First State have announced the details of their next withdrawal period in November and December 2009. This helps us to provide you with the opportunity to make a switch request between 18 November and 17 December 2009.

This article applies to MLC MasterKey clients invested in the Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund option.

To apply, you’ll need to complete the relevant Switch Form linked below and return it to us by mail. Completed forms will need to be received by 3pm on 17 December 2009.

Colonial First State Switch Form (PDF, 150KB) – MLC MasterKey superannuation and pension products, or

Colonial First State Switch Form (PDF, 229KB) – MLC MasterKey Investment Service (incl. Fundamentals)

An information guide about how the offer will operate is available via the link below:

Colonial First State switch offer guide (PDF, 39KB)

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Colonial First State (”Colonial”) suspended transactions on their Colonial Wholesale Income Fund (’the Fund’), effective 24 October 2008.

Subsequently, Colonial made available a period in March 2009 that enabled MLC to provide members with the opportunity to make a switch request.

Colonial has notified MLC of the outcome of this offer, which has allowed us to process switch requests received.

Colonial advised that the total value of all requests received exceeded the value of cash available in the Fund. As a result, Colonial confirmed they were only able to fulfil approximately 8.43% of the value of all requests received.

Based on this, we were able to satisfy 8.43% of the value of each switch request received for MLC MasterKey Investment Service (including Fundamentals) investors.

However, due to the structure of MLC MasterKey’s superannuation and pension products, we were able to satisfy more than 8.43% of the value of each switch request. The approximate percentages for each product (based on the total value of the requests we received within each) are provided below:

• MLC MasterKey superannuation products – 37%
• MLC MasterKey pension products – 18%

All switch requests received during this period have been processed and confirmation letters have been mailed to those clients who participated.

Colonial First State has advised that they expect to provide details of the next offer in July 2009.

[This article applies to MLC MasterKey investors with holdings in the Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund option.]

In October 2008, Colonial First State suspended transactions on the Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund.

The Fund continues to be suspended. However, Colonial First State has now announced they will be offering a second withdrawal period between 6 March and 3 April 2009. You will have an opportunity to switch a portion of your Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund investment into another investment option.

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Colonial First State freezes assets of Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund.

With effect from 3pm Friday 24 October 2008, Colonial First State has frozen the assets of their Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund.

This decision impacts investors in some MLC products because the Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund is an investment option on the MLC MasterKey platform.

In simple terms, Colonial’s decision to freeze transactions means investors with balances in the Colonial First State Wholesale Income Fund on the MLC MasterKey platform will not be able to invest, withdraw or switch into or from the fund. Importantly, MLC will continue to make Pension and Regular Withdrawal Facility payments as scheduled.

For more information about Colonial First State’s decision to freeze the fund, please contact Colonial directly.

No MLC funds have been frozen for redemptions and all are operating as normal.

Read the full notice…