In the fourth quarter, the world’s largest asset manager dumped shares in SPDR Gold Shares worth about $478 million. In exchange, it got in on the largest Silver ETF.
BlackRock and gold
The world’s largest asset manager BlackRock Inc. divested significant gold positions in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The company’s subsidiaries dumped 36.5 percent of their holdings in SPDR Gold Shares, the largest gold ETF on the market.
Gold sold for $478 million
As of Dec. 31, 2020, BlackRock held 4.68 million shares in the fund, worth $835 million. That compares with 7.34 million shares worth $1.3 billion in the third quarter.
That means BlackRock dumped 2.69 million shares worth about $478 million. What did the money giant buy in return? That’s right: silver.
ETF Silver
That’s because the company reported owning 1.2 million shares of iShares Silver Trust at the same time. Compared with the previous quarter, this represents an increase of 4,848 percent in the number of shares held in this exchange-traded fund.
Nevertheless, the investment amount remains comparatively modest. This is because BlackRock’s silver ETF shares were worth just $29.6 million.
Background
All data comes from the latest 13F mandatory disclosure. This is because once a quarter, major capital managers in the U.S. must disclose their value security positions to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The funds mentioned are metal-backed securities. However, physical delivery of the purchased shares is only provided for in exceptional cases. In contrast to gold bars or coins in the hand (or in one’s own safe), this is also referred to as paper gold.
After all, it is only a securitized promise. For example, the operators of the SPDR Gold Trust must store 1/10 ounce of gold per unit issued. In the case of iShares Silver Trust, it is 1 ounce per bill.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
