NFO NEST

February 2016

Equity NFOs with lock-in back with a bang

Mutual funds are back with a bang, launching equity schemes with lock-ins, after a gap of almost a year because the stock market has witnessed sharp erosion in value. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Birla SunLife Mutual Fund, and Sundaram Mutual Fund have introduced close-ended equity products and more are likely to follow suit soon. The new fund offer of ICICI Prudential India Recovery Fund - Series 4 (36 months tenure) opens on February 8, 2016 while Birla Sunlife Emerging Leaders Fund - Series 7 (42 months tenure) opens for subscription on February 5, 2016. Sundaram Value Fund - Series 4 has just concluded its NFO.

Close-ended NFOs, in general, and ELSS Funds (dealt with in the last few editions of NFONEST), in particular, continue to adorn the February 2016 NFONEST.

ICICI Prudential Multiple Yield Fund – Series 10 – 1103 Days Plan D

Opens: February 1, 2016

Closes: February 15, 2016

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched a new fund as ICICI Prudential Multiple Yield Fund - Series 10 - 1103 Days Plan D, a close ended income fund. The primary objective of the fund is to seek to generate returns by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities/debt instruments. The secondary objective of the fund is to generate long term capital appreciation by investing a portion of the fund's assets in equity and equity related instruments. The fund will allocate 65%-95% of assets in debt securities (including government securities) with low to medium risk profile. It would allocate up to 30% of assets in money market instruments, cash and cash equivalents with low to medium risk profile and it would allocate 5% to 35% of the asset in equity or equity related securities with medium to high risk profile. Of the investments in debt instruments, 83%-88% would be invested in AA rated non-convertible debentures. The fund will be benchmarked against the combination of CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index (80%) and Nifty 50 Index (20%). The equity portion of the fund will be managed by Vinay Sharma. Rahul Goswami and Chandni Gupta will jointly manage the debt portion. The investments under the ADRs/GDRs and other foreign securities will be managed by Shalya Shah.

Birla Sunlife Emerging Leaders Fund – Series 7

Opens: February 5, 2016

Closes: February 19, 2016

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has launched Series 7 of its Emerging Leaders Fund, a close-ended equity fund with a tenure of 3.5 years that seeks to invest in equity and equity-related securities of companies in the small and mid-cap segment. The fund is benchmarked against Nifty Midcap 100 Index and will be managed by Mahesh Patil, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company, jointly with Pranay Sinha and Milind Bafna.

HDFC Retirement Savings Fund

Opens: February 5, 2016

Closes: February 19, 2016

HDFC Mutual Fund has launched Retirement Savings Fund. There are three plans – Equity Plan, Hybrid-Equity Plan, and Hybrid-Debt Plan. The investment objective of the Investment Plans offered under the fund is to generate a corpus to provide for pension to an investor in the form of income to the extent of the redemption value of their holding after the age of 60 years by investing in a mix of securities comprising of equity, equity related instruments and/or Debt/Money Market instruments.  The benchmark for the Equity Plan is Nifty 500 Index, that of the Hybrid-Equity Plan is CRISIL Balanced Fund Index, and that of the Hybrid-Debt Plan is CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The fund managers are Mr. Chirag Setalvad (for Equity Portfolio), Mr. Shobhit Mehrotra (for Debt Portfolio), and Mr. Rakesh Vyas (Dedicated Fund Manager for Overseas Investments).

ICICI Prudential India Recovery Fund – Series 4

Opens: February 8, 2016

Closes: February 22, 2016

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has launched the ICICI Prudential India Recovery Fund-Series 4, a close ended growth fund. The investment objective of the fund is to provide capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity related securities that are likely to benefit from recovery in the Indian economy. The fund’s performance will be benchmarked against S&P BSE 500 Index and its fund managers are Manish Gunwani, Rajat Chandak, and Shalya Shah.

Reliance Korea Equity Fund, Sundaram Value Fund (Series IV – VI), Peerless Investment in Debt Equity and Arbitrage (IDEA) Fund, ICICI Prudential Capital Protection Oriented Fund – Series X (Plans A to H), DSP BlackRock Dual Advantage Fund – Series – 44 to 48, SBI Debt Fund Series B – 31, and Peerless Balanced Opportunities Fund  are expected to be launched in the coming months.