Peerless Mutual to launch hybrid fund

Peerless Funds Management Company is planning to launch a hybrid fund focussed at retail investors in the current quarter, according to its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Akshay Gupta.

The fund will invest 80-100 per cent in debt instruments and a maximum of 20 per cent in equity, he told Business Line. “The fund, to be named Income Plus, would be our flagship retail-investor oriented fund,” Mr Gupta said.

Short-term debt fund

The debt-intensive fund would aim at outperforming the returns from fixed deposits, post office deposits and other conventional savings instruments over a two to four years time horizon, he said.

Peerless would also launch, during July-August, a short-term debt fund, he said. “We would launch this fund after the Credit Policy as we expect further tightening in key rates by the RBI in the policy,” Mr Gupta said.

The company would look at launching its first equity scheme only after six months, he said. “We see a 10-15 per cent correction in the stock market and our launch of equity-oriented fund should coincide with the market upturn,” he said.

Peerless Mutual Fund, a subsidiary of the Peerless General Finance and Investment Company, launched operations in February and its asset under management stood at Rs 900 crore as on date. “We have set a target of garnering at least Rs 2,000 crore AUM by March 2011 and Rs 5,000 crore in the next three years,” Mr Gupta said. It targeted to break even in five years, he added. The company now has 30 branches in the country and planned to take it up to 80 in three years, Mr Gupta said. It also planned to engage 5,000 peerless agents and an equal number of independent financial advisors for selling mutual fund in the next three years, he said. The company's initial capital base of Rs 50 crore would be sufficient to fund these expansion plans, he added.

Unlike the customary industry practice, Peerless would initially focus on tier III and IV towns and rural areas for selling mutual funds, Mr Gupta said. This would be in tune with its strategy to tap the existing 80 lakh customer base of the parent company, he added.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/05/12/stories/2010051251251100.htm

Bajaj Finserv to launch wealth mgmt arm, AMC by 2011

Bajaj Finserv plans to launch two new companies by 2011. While the first one is a wealth management company that would be operational by September 2010, an asset management company in joint venture with Allianz would begin operations early next year.

Sanjiv Bajaj, managing director, said “The wealth management venture would be named Bajaj Finserv Wealth Management Company. To begin with, we will launch it in five cities, Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Ludhiana and Chandigarh and every six months, we would expand to five new cities.”

The new company would be a 100% subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv and give clients investment and financial advice.

The company is also planning to launch dedicated wealth management stores across the country, which would also sell and advice on third-party products. The company has already tied up with several leading mutual funds providers.

“Our aim is to take wealth management to more people, as very few players experiment in this area. We plan to deal with middle-class investors as we feel there is huge opportunity in this segment,” said Bajaj.

On the asset management firm, he said “We are expecting an approval from the Sebi in the next 10 weeks and it would take us another nine months after that to begin operations.

To be formed in a JV with Allianz, Bajaj did not reveal any further details on the said company.

Bajaj Finserv recently also extended its lending business and is offering retail loans against securities and is also engaged in financing construction equipment.

“The retail loans segment has a market size of Rs 5,000 crore of which we are planning to gain a 3-4% share in the next 18 months and a 10-15% share over the next 3-4 years. In construction equipment financing too, the company is eyeing a 3-4% market share. The expansion plan would be fully funded through internal accruals. On a proposed plan to venture into banking, Bajaj said, “In principle, we are interested in the plan. However we are waiting for the RBI approvals.” The company’s board on Tuesday also passed a resolution to rename Bajaj Auto Finance to Bajaj Finance. The RBI and ROC approvals are however still awaited.

Deployments in the auto finance grew 87% to Rs 4,585 crore from Rs 2451 crores in the last fiscal. Receivables under finance stood at Rs 4,026 crore compared with Rs 2539 crore in the previous year. For 2009-10, profit after tax surged to Rs 559 crore from Rs 71 crore in the previous fiscal. Revenue rose 140% to Rs 23,781 crore from Rs 9,868 crore in FY09.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_bajaj-finserv-to-launch-wealth-mgmt-arm-amc-by-2011_1381955

AIG MF Announces changes in Key Personnel

AIG Mutual Fund has announced changes in Directorship and Chief Executive Officer.

Accordingly, Mr. Sunil Mehta has resigned as an Associate Director from the Board of AIG Trustee Company (India) Private Limited (Trustee Company) with effect from 10 May 2010 and hence he ceases to be an Associate Director of the Trustee Company.

Mr. Ravi Mehrotra has resigned as an Associate Director of AIG AMC with effect from 8 May 2010 and hence he ceases to be an Associate Director of AIG AMC.

Mr. Sunil Mehta replaces Mr. Ravi Mehrotra as the Chief Executive Officer (Interim) of AIG AMC with effect from 10 May 2010.

Source: http://www.apollosindhoori.cmlinks.com/MutualFund/MFSnapShot.aspx?opt=9&SecId=10&SubSecId=22,24

Mutual funds in buying mode

Mutual funds (MFs) bought shares worth a net Rs 123.50 crore on Monday, 10 May 2010, as against an outflow of Rs 13.70 crore on Friday, 7 May 2010.

The net inflow of Rs 123.50 crore on 10 May 2010 was a result of gross purchases Rs 825.60 crore and gross sales Rs 702.10 crore. The BSE Sensex surged 561.44 points or 3.35% to 17,330.55 on that day.

MFs sold shares worth net Rs 549.20 crore in May 2010 (till 10 May 2010). MFs had sold shares worth net Rs 1410.40 crore in April 2010.

Source: http://www.apollosindhoori.cmlinks.com/MutualFund/MFSnapShot.aspx?opt=9&SecId=10&SubSecId=22,24