Wednesday August 15 is the last day of trading for iShares 2012 S&P AMT-Free Municipal Series ETF (MUAA). However, unlike hundreds of previous ETF closings, this one is nothing to be concerned about. MUAA’s closure was planned and announced in January 2010 as part of its launch. MUAA has matured.
According to BlackRock’s press release, MUAA will mature on August 15, which will also be its last day of trading. Remaining shareholders should receive full payment on or around August 21. The series currently contains five other ETFs maturing in years 2013 to 2017. Plans to extend the series to include 2018 and 2019 end date ETFs have not been finalized.
This marks the second graceful exit of an ETF. The first, detailed in Not Your Typical ETF Closure, was Guggenheim BulletShares 2011 Corporate Bond ETF (former ticker BSCB), which matured December 29, 2011.