NFO Nest

The NFO bandwagon is slowing down, thanks to the see-sawing sensex and the painful PAN. Though the number of NFOs are on the rise, the magnitude of money mobilised is on the decline.

The following funds find their place in the NFO nest in November, 2007.

SBI Capital Protection Oriented Fund Opens: 15Oct , 2007 Closes: 23 Nov, 2007

A five year close-ended capital protection oriented fund, the scheme aims at protecting the capital invested in debt and money market instruments as well as equity while at the same time also seeking to provide investors with opportunities for long-term growth in capital. The schemes’ portfolio structure has been rated AAA by CRISIL. The rating given by CRISIL will be reviewed on a quarterly basis.The scheme aims at investing 73% to 100% in debt securities and money market instruments, 0% to 20% in securitized debt and 0% to 27% in equity and equity related instruments including derivatives.This fund will be benchmarked to CRISIL MIP Blended Index.

Lotus India Agile Fund Opens: 25Oct , 2007 Closes: 23 Nov, 2007

Lotus India AMC, a joint venture between Fullerton Fund Management Group and Sabre Capital Worldwide, has launched India’s first Quant based Mutual Fund Scheme Lotus India AGILE Fund (Alpha Generated from Industry Leaders Fund). Quant funds operate on the basis of computer generated mathematical models designed by the Fund Management Team. The primary objective of this fund is to generate capital appreciation by investing in a passive portfolio of stocks selected from the industry leaders. The portfolio of the scheme will consist of stocks which satisfy the following conditions.

• The market capitalisation of the stock chosen should not be less than the market capitalisation of the last stock of S&P CNX Nifty.
• The floating stock of the company should not be less than the least floating stock of S&P CNX Nifty.
• The stock should have a price history of at least 1 year before the date of investment.
• The industry represented by the stock should be present in the composition of S&P CNX Nifty.

Of all the stocks that meet the above criteria, only the top 11 will be selected for investment. Thereafter, 9 per cent of the total corpus will be invested in each of these stocks and the remaining 1 per cent will be invested in debt and money market instruments.This fund will redefine the product suite available in the market and will provide investors a model based alternative to the existing value and growth based investing philosophies.

JPMorgan Smaller Cos Fund Opens:Nov 9 , 2007 Closes:Nov 30, 2007

The second equity fund from the JP Morgan stable, JPMorgan India Smaller Companies Fund is an open-ended equity growth scheme that aims to generate long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio that devotes 65 to 100% to smaller companies. The scheme can also invest in derivatives traded on the futures and options segment of Indian stock exchanges not exceeding 50 per cent of the net assets of the scheme, offshore securities, ADRs and GDRs and up to 35 per cent in debt and money market instruments. The benchmark index for the scheme is CNX-Midcap.

Sundaram BNP Paribas Energy Sector Fund Opens:Nov 12, 2007Closes:Dec 11, 2007

A three-year close-ended equity fund with an automatic conversion into an open-ended scheme on expiry of three years, the fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity-related instruments of companies in the domestic energy sector. The fund managers will seek to invest more than 65 per cent of net assets in equity shares of the targeted theme, up to 35 per cent of its net assets in instruments outside the theme, and up to 15 per cent in treasury bills, Collateralised Borrowing and Lending Obligation (CBLO) and reverse repo.

UTI-Infrastructure Advantage Fund Opens:12 Nov,2007Closes:19 Dec, 2007

A three year close-ended equity scheme, this scheme aims to provide income distribution for medium to long term capital by investing 65 -100 per cent in equity and equity related instruments of companies engaged either directly or indirectly in the infrastructure sector and up to 35 per cent in debt and money market instruments including securitised debt.The benchmark index for the scheme is BSE-100.

ICICI Prudential Real-estate Securities Fund Opens:Nov 15,2007 Closes:Dec 14,2007

A three-year close-ended debt fund, the fund will invest in real estate and related sectors such as cement, construction, metals, hotels, retail, banks and finance companies etc. to gain from the real-estate boom in India. This is a hybrid fund that will predominantly invest 51 per cent in high-yielding debt securities, while investing up to 49 per cent in equity.

Sundaram BNP Paribas Global Advantage Fund, Sahara Retail and Entertainment Fund, Taurus Parsoli Ethical Fund, Quantum Gold Fund, SBI Emerging International Opportunities Fund, ING Optimix Emerging Markets Fund, ING Global Real Estate Fund, ICICI Prudential Retirement Fund Series, LIC Infrastructure Fund, Franklin Asia Equity Fund, SBI Gold ETF and SBI Tax Advantage Fund are expected to be launched in the coming months.