Unlike the other EQDP funds, the BF1 Advantage ASEAN Equity Fund adopts a quantitative active approach. BlackRock says the fund operates as a core long-only portfolio and does not have any bias towards growth, value or other investment styles. The fund will be benchmarked against the MSCI Asean Investable Market Index.
“ASEAN offers compelling equity opportunities, with Singapore as a key gateway to regional growth,” says Mena-Berlin. “The strategy differentiates itself through a systematic, liquidity-aware approach that harness large‑scale data and machine learning techniques to assess market dynamics across Singapore and ASEAN equities, supported by BlackRock’s global scale and disciplined risk management across market cycles.”
BlackRock was one of nine fund managers that MAS selected to receive funding under its $6.5 billion EQDP fund. The other selected managers are: Avanda Investment Management, Fullerton Fund Management, JP Morgan Asset Management, Amova Asset Management (formerly Nikko Asset Management), AR Capital, Eastspring Investments, Lion Global Investors and Manulife Investment Management.
Thus far, MAS has allocated $3.95 billion to the fund managers. The next batch of EQDP fund managers is expected to be announced in mid-2026.
