Total Voting Rights

1 Mar 2011 14:02

TOTAL VOTING RIGHTS BLACKROCK ABSOLUTE RETURN STRATEGIES LTD ("the Company")

In conformity with the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules ("the Rules"), the Company would like to notify the market of the following:

The Company's issued share capital consists of the following:

- 1,752,235 Euro denominated shares of no par value with 1.3 voting rights per share (excluding 164,178 Euro denominated shares held in treasury) - 2,308,596 US Dollar denominated shares of no par value with 1 voting right per share (excluding 165,505 US Dollar denominated shares held in treasury) - 9,919,990 Sterling denominated shares of no par value with 1.5 voting rights per share (excluding 1,146,795 treasury shares)

The total number of voting rights in the Company is therefore 19,466,487 (excluding treasury shares).

The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Rules.

Ian Websterfor BlackRock (Channel Islands) LimitedCompany SecretaryTel: 01534 600802Date: 1 March 2011