DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund has appointed Atul Bhole in its equity investments team. He will take over the fund management at DSP BlackRock Equity Fund. The latter is one of the AMC's flagship schemes and was launched way back in 1997.
DSP BlackRock Equity was initially managed by Apoorva Shah. However, in July last year, Shah relinquished his fund management responsibilities.
Our analyst noted that the success of this flexi-cap fund rested largely in Shah's execution capabilities. The absence of a rigidly defined method meant that investments were also made on a somewhat intuitive basis. In effect, Shah posed a key-man risk. It is for this reason the fund was put ‘Under Review” when Shah moved out. (See the initial analysis here) .
Bhole has big shoes to fill. Shah demonstrated considerable skill and made the process work across market cycles and over the long haul.
However, over the past three years the fund has run into rough weather. So despite the 10-year returns being an impressive annualised 13%, the 3- and 5-year returns are below the category average.
Bhole previously worked with Tata AMC as an equity research analyst before becoming a fund manager. Prior to that, he was an analyst with with JP Morgan Services (India) and in the Treasury Department of State Bank of India also as an analyst.
Bhole will also manage the equity portion of the DSP BlackRock Balanced Fund.
