Goldman Sachs is ditching its BRIC fund
The firm is merging its BRIC fund - which invests in Brazil, Russia, India, and China - with a broader emerging-markets fund, according to a September SEC filing first reported by Bloomberg.
The 'BRIC' acronym was first used by former Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Jim O'Neill (now Lord Jim O'Neill) to draw attention to four emerging economies he saw as stand outs. He coined the term in 2001, in an economics paper titled "Building Better Global Economic BRICs."
It quickly became part of Wall Street's vernacular, and marked the start of an investment boom in the four markets. Its usage has expanded outside of the investment community also, with the four countries and South Africa (making it BRICS) recently banding together to form a development bank as an alternative to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Goldman only launched its BRIC fund in 2006. It peaked in 2010, according to the Bloomberg report, and has since lost 88% of its assets.
Earlier this year, O'Neill said he would no longer group the four "BRIC" countries together and predicted that Brazil and Russia could soon be kicked out of the club.
Since that prediction, China has seen a stock market crash and growth problems of its own. That country is now set for its weakest expansion since 1990, according to Bloomberg.
Now, Goldman believes that a combined BRIC and emerging market equity fund "would be better positioned for asset growth" than a standalone BRIC fund, according to the filing.