NFO NEST

October 2015

Equity NFOs to a grinding halt?

 

NFOs, a popular money mobilizing tool for mutual fund houses, came to a virtual halt in September 2015. A cap on commission paid to distributors and a rise in market volatility saw the Rs 13 lakh crore fund management sector launch just one equity NFO in September 2015, which mopped up a mere Rs 20 crore. Last year, a record 75 NFOs was launched. NFOs have been on a downward spiral since April 2015 when the curbs on commissions kicked in. SEBI has also been discouraging fund houses from launching new schemes unless they are different from existing ones. The first six months of this financial year saw an average of three NFOs per month. A majority of NFOs floated were and are still close-ended as is evident from the NFOs open at present.

BOI AXA Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series 5

Opens: October 6, 2015

Closes: October 20, 2015

BOI AXA Mutual Fund has launched a new fund as BOI AXA Capital Protection Oriented Fund - Series 5, a close-ended capital protection oriented fund. The investment objective of the fund is to generate income by investing in a portfolio of fixed income and money market instruments maturing on or before the maturity date of the fund. The tenure of the fund will be 38 months from the date of allotment. The fund will invest 82%-100% of assets in debt and money market securities with low to medium risk profile and invest up to 18% of assets in equity and equity related instruments with high risk profile. The benchmark index for the fund is CRISIL MIP Blended Fund Index. The fund managers are Alok Singh and Surabh Kataria.

SBI Equity Opportunities Fund – Series IV

Opens: October 7, 2015

Closes: October 21, 2015

SBI Asset Management has launched a three year closed-end fund, SBI Equity Opportunities Fund - Series IV. Like the earlier series of closed-end funds, this fund too is a multi-cap fund and will invest in a mix of large and mid-cap companies. About 35% of the funds will be invested in large cap stocks with the balance in mid cap stocks. The fund manager will avoid investing in sectors which will be affected by global commodity prices and government policies. It will focus on structural themes which have high growth visibility. The fund shall have exposure to equity and equity related securities to the extent of minimum 80% of the total assets with a maximum exposure of 100%. The new fund would have exposure to securitized debt to the extent of 20% of the net assets and shall invest in debt and money market instruments which mature only on or before the date of the fund allowing safety net for the value earned for the investors. The benchmark index for the fund is S&P BSE 500. The fund manager is Mr. Dharmendra Grover.

 

ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series IX – Plan A

Opens: October 9, 2015

Closes: October 23, 2015

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a new fund as ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund - Series IX - 1101 Days Plan A, a close ended capital protection oriented fund. The tenure of the fund is 1101 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 70%-100% of assets in debt securities and money market instruments with low to medium risk profile and invest up to 30% of assets in equity and equity related securities with medium to high risk profile. The performance of the fund will be benchmarked against Crisil Composite Bond Fund Index (85%) and CNX Nifty (15%). The fund managers are Vinay Sharma (equity portion), Chandni Gupta and Rahul Goswami (debt portion) and Shalya Shah (for investments in ADR/GDR and other foreign securities).

UTI Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series VI–III (1098 Days)

Opens: October 16, 2015

Closes: October 28, 2015

UTI Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as UTI Capital Protection Oriented Fund - Series VI - III (1098 Days), a close ended capital protection oriented income fund. The duration of the fund is 1098 days from the date of allotment. The investment objective of the fund is to endeavor to protect the capital by investing in high quality fixed income securities as the primary objective and generate capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity related instruments as secondary objective. 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. Benchmark index for the fund is CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The fund managers are Sunil Patil and Srivatsa.

Sundaram Select Microcap – Series IX (1098 Days)

Opens: October 16, 2015

Closes: October 30, 2015

Sundaram Mutual Fund has launched a new fund named as Sundaram Select Micro Cap - Series IX, a closed-end equity fund. The tenure of the fund is 5 years from the date of allotment of units. The objective of the fund would be to generate capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity/equity-related instruments of companies that can be termed as micro-caps. The fund will invest up to 65%-100% in equity and equity related securities of companies of micro-caps with high risk profile. On the other hand, it would invest up to 35% in other equity with high risk profile and fixed income and money market securities with low to medium risk profile. The fund's performance will be benchmarked against S&P BSE Small Cap Index. The fund managers are S Krishnakumar & Dwijendra Srivastava. 

Tata Resources and Energy Fund, Tata Make in India Fund, Tata India Pharma and Healthcare Fund, Tata India Consumer Fund, Tata Digital India Fund, Tata Banking and Financial Services Fund, HDFC Resurgent India Fund, Tata India Advantage Fund, SBI Enhanced Index Fund – Maximum Sharpe Ratio, BNP Paribas Balanced Fund, BNP Paribas India Consumption Fund, ICICI Prudential NV20 ETF, ICICI Prudential Midcap ETF, ICICI Prudential Oil & Gas ETF, ICICI Prudential Metal ETF, Sundaram Nifty Index Fund,  SBI Enhanced Index Fund  - Minimum Variance, Sundaram Developed Markets Fund, and Sundaram Credit Opportunities Fund  are expected to be launched in the coming months.