BlackRock Says Som Seif to Leave Canadian Unit in April

BlackRock (BLK) Inc. said Som Seif, who founded and led the Canadian investment unit it agreed to buy in January from Guggenheim Partners LLC, will leave the company this month to pursue other opportunities.

Seif, 35, was president and chief executive officer of Toronto-based Claymore Investments Inc., which managed $6.9 billion in exchange-traded and closed-end funds when BlackRock made the deal. Mary Anne Wiley, who was named head of iShares Canada following the announcement of the sale, which was completed on March 7, will assume responsibility for the Claymore business, Brian Beades, a spokesman for New York-based BlackRock, said today in an e-mailed statement.

BlackRock, which has pushed for more transparent labeling of exchange-traded products to help investors identify risks, said today it will liquidate a C$2.6 million ($2.6 million) Canadian ETF because of its speculative nature. The fund was designed to rise in value when an index linked to 10-year Canadian government bonds fell.

Assets in the Claymore Inverse 10-Year Government Bond ETF had fallen from C$4.9 million in the past 11 months. The fund will be terminated by June 22 and the money returned to investors, BlackRock said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Condon in Boston at ccondon4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net