M&G Investments will halt trading on 21 funds as it ploughs ahead with plans to shift £34bn of assets out of the UK amid Brexit concerns.

The suspensions, which will begin midday Thursday and finish on Monday, are the first of four tranches of planned downtime by M&G so as not to suspend all of its funds at once.

The firm has begun telling impacted clients that all the share classes in the funds that are moving to Luxembourg will be affected.

The first tranche includes M&G’s Global Macro Bond, Short Dated Corporate Bond, Japan and Asian funds.

Money Marketing understands that due to the complexity of the move the suspension had to come over a weekend.

M&G first revealed plans to transfer £32bn-worth of UK-domiciled Oeic funds to equivalent Sicav funds in its Luxembourg range in May, saying the move would protect non-UK customers’ interests as Brexit negotiations unfold, ensuring they had access regardless of the outcome.

The next tranche of suspensions should fall in November, followed by another in December, and then finally the £23bn M&G Optimal Income fund will move as part of its own tranche March.

Last August, Prudential said it would be the latest insurance giant to embrace vertical integration by fully merging M&G into its wider UK and Europe business, and has already been building up its financial planning arm, Prudential Financial Planning.