NFO NEST

September 2014

NFOs to the fore again

With Indian stock indices scaling new highs, new equity launches by the country’s mutual fund industry is gaining traction. So far in 2014, fund houses have launched 33 new fund offers in the equity category, the most since 2008, when 41 new offers had been made. In the past few years, new offerings had lost flavour and the mutual fund industry faced challenges in garnering new assets amid poor market sentiment. In 2012, the industry was able to launch only eight NFOs, which cumulatively mobilised only Rs 500 crore. The tide now seems to be turning as the new offers are getting good response and money is flowing into the existing schemes as well. Out of the 33 equity NFOs that have hit the market in 2014, 21 have been close-ended products with lock-in periods between three and five years. In absolute terms, of the Rs 3,580 crore of fresh mobilisation through NFOs, Rs 2,685 crore came through close-ended equity schemes. Since a majority of these funds are close-ended in nature, with much better commissions, distributors are also pushing these products.

The euphoria surrounding close end funds does not seem to have subsided yet. Nearly two-third of the NFOs in 2014 and five out of seven NFOs in the 2014 NFONEST fall in the close-end equity fund category.

Birla Sunlife Capital Protection Fund - Series 23

Opens: September 1, 2014

Closes: September 15, 2014

Birla Sunlife Capital Protection Fund-Series 23 is a close ended fund with the objective to seek capital protection on maturity by investing in fixed income securities maturing on or before the tenure of the fund and seeking capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity related instruments. The tenure of the fund is 1099 days from the date of allotment. The fund would allocate 80% to 100% of assets in debt and money market instruments with low to medium risk profile and up to 20% in equity and equity related instruments with high risk profile. The benchmark Index for the fund is CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The fund managers will be Prasad Dhonde and Vineet Maloo.

ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Fund VI – Plan H

Opens: September 5, 2014

Closes: September 15, 2014

ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund VI - Plan H is a close-ended capital protection oriented fund with a tenure of 1100 days. The investment objective of the fund is to seek to protect capital by investing a portion of the portfolio in highest rated debt securities and money market instruments and also provide capital appreciation by investing the balance in equity and equity related securities. The securities would mature on or before the maturity of the plan under the fund. The fund would allocate 75%-100% of assets in debt securities and money market instruments with low to medium risk profile and invest up to 25% of assets in equity and equity related securities with medium to high risk profile. The benchmark Index for the fund is CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The fund is proposed to be listed on NSE. The fund managers are Vinay Sharma (equity portion), Aditya Pagaria and Rahul Goswami (debt portion), and Ashwin Jain (for investments in ADR / GDR and other foreign securities).

JP Morgan India Corporate Debt Opportunities Fund

Opens: September 8, 2014

Closes: September 17, 2014

JPMorgan India Corporate Debt Opportunities Fund aims to generate regular income and opportunities for capital appreciation while maintaining liquidity through active management of a diversified portfolio comprising of corporate bonds and securities across the investment grade credit rating and maturity spectrum. The fund would allocate 80%-100% of assets in corporate bonds and securities including securitized debt instruments with low to medium risk profile and invest up to 20% of assets in other debt and money market instruments with low risk profile. The benchmark Index for the fund is CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index. The fund managers will be Namdev Chougule and Ravi Ratanpal.

UTI Capital Protection Oriented Scheme IV – II

Opens: September 8, 2014

Closes: September 22, 2014

UTI Capital Protection Oriented Scheme -Series IV -II (1104 Days) is a close ended fund with the primary objective to endeavour to protect the capital by investing in high quality fixed income securities and the secondary objective to generate capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity related instruments. The fund shall invest 70-100% of assets in debt and money market instruments with low to medium risk profile and up to 30% in equity and equity related instruments with medium to high risk profile. The benchmark Index for the fund is CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The fund manager is Sunil Patil.

DWS Corporate Debt Opportunities Fund

Opens: September 9, 2014

Closes: September 23, 2014

DWS Corporate Debt Opportunities Fund is an open-ended debt fund that seeks to generate income and capital appreciation by investing predominantly in corporate debt. The investment objective is to generate regular income and opportunities for capital appreciation while maintaining liquidity through active management of a diversified portfolio comprising of corporate bonds and securities across the investment grade credit rating and maturity spectrum. The fund would allocate 80%-100% of assets in corporate debt securities including securitized debt instruments with low to medium risk profile and invest up to 20% of assets in CBLO, Reverse Repo, T Bills, and Money Market Instruments with low risk profile. The benchmark Index for the fund is CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index. The fund manager will be Nitish Gupta.

Sundaram Select Microcap – Series VI

Opens: September 10, 2014

Closes: September 24, 2014

Sundaram Select Micro Cap Series VI (42 Months) is a close-ended income fund. The investment objective of the fund is to seek capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity/equity-related instruments of companies that can be termed as micro-caps. A company whose market capitalisation is equal to or lower than that of the 301st stock by market cap on the NSE at the time of investment will be considered to be in micro-cap category. The fund's performance will be benchmarked against S&P BSE Small Cap Index and its fund managers are S Krishna Kumar (Equity) and Dwijendra Srivastava (Fixed-Income).

SBI Equity Opportunities Fund - Series I

Opens: September 11, 2014

Closes: September 25, 2014

SBI Equity Opportunities Fund - Series I aims to generate capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments. The investment objective of the fund is to generate capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of equity and equity related instruments. The fund shall invest 65-100% in equity and equity related instruments and up to 35% in debt and money market instruments. The benchmark Index for the fund is S&P BSE 500. The fund would be listed on BSE. The fund manager will be Sohini Adnani.

Reliance Capital Builder Fund, DSP Blackrock Constant Maturity 10 year G-Sec Fund, ICICI Prudential Growth Fund – Series 3 to 8, DSP Blackrock Dual Advantage Fund – Series 29 to 33, SBI Equity Opportunities Fund – Series II and III, Kotak Banking ETF, Sundaram Top 100 Series IV & V, SBI ETF BSE 100, SBI ETF Banking, UTI Focussed Equity Fund – Series I to II, IIFL India Growth Fund, Baroda Pioneer Equity Trigger Fund Series I, DSP Blackrock 3 Years Close Ended Equity Fund, SBI Banking & Financial Services Fund, Reliance R* Shares Sensex ETF, Canara Robeco India Opportunities Fund, Canara Robeco Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series – 3, Sundaram Value Fund Series I-III, ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series VII, SBI-ETF Nifty Jr, Tata Twenty Fund, Sundaram Long Term Tax Advantage Fund Series I–II, Birla Sunlife Focussed Equity Fund – Series 3 to Series 5, Reliance Capital Builder Fund II, Birla Sunlife Capital Protection Oriented Fund - Series 25 to Series 28, BOI AXA Credit Spectrum Fund, Baroda Pioneer Equity Opportunities Fund, SBI Retirement Benefit Fund, Birla Sunlife Corporate Bond Fund, HDFC Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series III, India Bulls Arbitrage Fund, JP Morgan India Economic Reforms and Infrastructure Fund, ICICI Prudential Multiple Yield Fund series 8, SBI Debt Fund Series B 1 to 15, SBI Long Term Advantage Fund - Series I & II, Motilal Oswal MOSt Shares S 100 ETF, BOI AXA Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series 2, JP Morgan India Multi Asset Fund, ICICI Prudential Hybrid Saving Fund, and Axis Hybrid Fund Series 18-21 are expected to be launched in the coming months.