Changes in Key Personnel
UTI Mutual Fund has appointed Imtaiyazur Rahman as its acting CEO, a post that has remained vacant for almost a year. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer and Head, Department of Administration and Information Technology, and Department of Funds Management.
Tata Asset Management announced that Venugopal Manghat, Co-Head (Equities) has left the AMC to pursue other career opportunities and Bhupinder Sethi will now be Head-Equities.
Fund manager changes and appointments
Edelweiss Mutual Fund has reshuffled fund management responsibilities from January 9, 2012. From then on, Nandik Mallik will also be a co-Fund Manager of the fixed income schemes of the MF - Edelweiss Liquid Fund, Edelweiss Ultra Short Term Bond Fund, Edelweiss Short Term Income Fund, Edelweiss Gilt Fund, Edelweiss Monthly Income Plan and Edelweiss Fixed Maturity Plan – Series 4. Till then Kapil Punjabi was the designated Fund Manager of all fixed income schemes of the MF and Paul Parampreet and Nandik Mallik were the co-Fund Managers of all the equity schemes of the MF.
Principal Mutual Fund has appointed Pankaj Jain as Fund Manager - Fixed Income. Pankaj was, most recently, a Debt Fund Manager at Taurus Mutual Fund.
New fund launch
Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund has launched Morgan Stanley Multi Asset Fund, an open ended debt scheme. The NFO period of the scheme is from January 17 till January 31, 2012. The fund has two plans, Plan A and Plan B each having a separate portfolio. Plan A will invest in debt and equity and equity related instruments whereas Plan B will invest in debt, gold ETFs and equity and equity related instruments. The performance of the Plan A will be benchmarked against 80% of CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index and 20% S&P CNX Nifty. Plan B will be benchmarked against 70% of CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index, 15% S&P CNX Nifty and 15% domestic gold price. The fund will be managed by Ritesh Jain (debt) and Jayesh Gandhi (equity and gold ETFs).
Changes in scheme structure
HDFC Mutual Fund will revise the maximum investment amount limit for purchases under HDFC Gold Fund from January 13, 2012. Thence, All applications for purchase of units of the scheme including additional purchase for an amount equal to or more than Rs10 lakhs will be accepted with payment mode only as RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), Funds Transfer Letter, Transfer Cheque of a bank where the scheme has a collection account. Presently, the maximum limit is Rs 2 lakhs.
SBI Mutual Fund has changed the face value of SBI Magnum Insta Cash Fund, SBI Magnum Insta Cash Fund-Liquid Floater Plan, SBI Premier Liquid Fund and SBI Short Horizon Debt Fund-Ultra Short Term Fund from Rs 10 to Rs 1,000 for all plans from January 13, 2012.
Axis Mutual Fund has changed the NFO period of Axis Constant Maturity 10 Year Fund, which will close on January 19 instead of January 24, 2012.
Exit load and dividend news
Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund will charge an exit load of 2% under Birla Sun Life Century SIP, an optional; add-on facility offered under designated schemes of the MF, from January 11, 2012, if units are redeemed or switched out within 1 year from the date of allotment. Further, a 1% exit load will be charged if the units are redeemed or switched out after 1 year but before 3 years from allotment. Further, the MF decided that it will not charge any exit load under Birla Sun Life Floating Rate Long Term Plan from January 16, 2012. Presently, the exit load is 0.25% if units are redeemed within 30 days from the date of allotment.
Motilal Oswal Financial Mutual Fund has begun charging a 0.50% exit load under Motilal Oswal MOSt 10 Year Gilt Fund from January 13, 2012, if units are redeemed or switched out within 6 months from the date of allotment.
UTI Mutual Fund declared dividend under UTI Treasury Advantage Fund - Institutional Plan (quarterly dividend option). The quantum of dividend will be 100% distributable surplus as on the record date January 17, 2012 on the face value of Rs 1,000 per unit.
Tata Mutual Fund declared dividend under Tata Floater Fund (periodic dividend option). The quantum of dividend will be entire distributable surplus subject to availability and adequacy of distributable surplus as on the record date January 17, 2012.