Brokerage, MF top bosses go places

Brokerage, MF top bosses go places Leading brokerages and mutual fund (MF) houses are busy churning their portfolios, with the markets coming back to life. But they are also seeing churning at the top.

Along with the market, a host of top-level executives at these firms are going places, literally, and have started responding to the call from headhunters like never before. The fallout has been predictable. In the last few months, high profile names such as Keshav Sanghi, Devesh Kumar and Krishnamurthy Vijayan have moved.

Kumar, till recently the managing director of Centrum Stock Broking, is joining Fortune Financial Services, a listed capital market intermediary. He is tipped to be the group CEO and would be responsible for expanding Fortune’s broking and investment banking operations.

Vijayan, who quit JPMorgan Asset Management as its executive chairman, will join IDBI Mutual Fund. When contacted, he declined to comment. Sanghi will join Citi. He was the CEO of Reliance Equity International. He could not be contacted.

Similarly, Ajay Bhatia recently moved from Macquarie to Indiabulls Securities as the president of its capital markets division. Jayesh Parekh, who was the head of sales at Motilal Oswal Securities has joined Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as fund manager. Four senior people have also joined the investment banking team of Emkay Global Financial Services. Fund managers Promodh Gupta and Pankaj Tiberwal have quit Principal Mutual Fund.

Market players said that while people movement has been on for some time now, it is only recently that even the top brass has started moving. They said the upsurge in the market sentiment has been the primary reason that has led to increased business volume for most brokerages.

“This is a good time to step on the gas and we, too, have been doing selective hiring to strengthen our capital market side,” said Abhay Bhalerao, director, Equirus Capital, a boutique investment bank operating in the mid-market segment. Equirus recently expanded its top brass by hiring Abhijeet Biswas as director focusing on industrial, energy, health care and FMCG.

Ruth Singh, who heads human resources at Emkay Global Financial Services, said that the firm was also beefing up its capital market division. “We are expanding our ECM (equity capital market) team and have recently got senior people on board for our investment banking division,” said Singh.

The growth in business volume is also seen from the impressive profit growth registered by some of the listed brokerage entities. India Infoline’s third quarter consolidated net profit has almost doubled to Rs 59.51 crore when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex has nearly doubled in the last one year, moving from 9,000 levels to the current 17,000.


Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=383337

Bharti AXA MF's Infrastructure NFO

Bharti AXA Investment Managers has announced the launch of the Bharti AXA Focused Infrastructure Fund.

It is an open-ended equity fund that would invest in equity and equity-related securities of companies engaged in infrastructure and infrastructure-related sectors.

The reasoning behind the creation of the new fund, as per the fund house, is the opportunity that has been unveiled. According to the fund house, the CNX Infrastructure index has outperformed the broader CNX Nifty index over a period of 3 years. This trend is likely to continue owing to the increased outlay for infrastructure both from government and public-private partnerships.

“Our internal research has indicated that core Infrastructure stocks amongst the companies forming the BSE 100 index has outperformed the BSE 100 index by 19% CAGR over a period of 3 years. By having a focused portfolio of such sectors, we expect to derive the best for our investors through this fund,” said Prateek Agrawal, Head, Equity, Bharti AXA Investment Managers.

The fund’s performance will be benchmarked against the BSE 100 Index.

“India, amongst all developing countries, has the need to invest most on infrastructure development. The government is cognizant of this fact and has taken significant steps towards meeting infrastructure needs. This provides for a very good opportunity for investor participation and deriving benefit,” said Vikaas M Sachdeva, Country Head – Business Development, Bharti AXA Investment Managers.

The new fund offer (NFO) commences January 20, 2010 and closes on February 15.

The fund offers both growth option for capital appreciation as well as dividend options.

The face value is Rs 10 per unit.

The minimum investment amount is Rs 5,000, while the additional investment amount is Rs 1,000. Investments may be made in multiples of Re 1 subject to minimum investment amount.

One per cent exit load would be applicable if redeemed within one year.

The SIP/STP route is also available to investors.

Note: Bharti AXA Investment Managers is a joint venture between Bharti Ventures Ltd, AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA APH, through its wholly owned subsidiary National Mutual International Pty. Limited).

Bharti AXA Mutual Fund has been set up as a Trust (under the Indian Trust Act, 1882) by AXA Investment Managers, sponsor of the fund.

Source: http://new.valueresearchonline.com/story/h2_storyView.asp?str=101192

No bringing back MF entry load: SEBI

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has virtually ruled out a re-think on its move to do away with entry load on Mutual Fund (MF) products.

Delivering his address at the Assocham Mutual Fund Summit on Wednesday, Mr K.N. Vaidyanathan, Executive Director, SEBI, said the distributors of MF units and other such agents should stop complaining and stay focused to enable retail investors have maximum return on their investments and stop thinking in terms of their commission.

This is necessary because with reasonable commission, the distributors and agents will be able to generate volumes of scale to enable them to earn money, which they cannot envisage in the initial phases, he said.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/01/22/stories/2010012251251500.htm