NFO NEST
November 2010

NFOs have started making a slow comeback, with debt funds far outstripping the number of equity funds featuring in the November 2010 NFONEST…

JPMorgan India Capital Protection-oriented Fund
Opens: November 12, 2010
Closes: November 26, 2010

JP Morgan Capital Protection-oriented Fund is a 39-month closed-end income scheme, which will mature on March 6, 2014. The fund is rated AAA (ind) (SO) by Fitch Ratings and the fund will only invest in AAA rated papers. The investment objective of the scheme is to generate returns and reduce interest rate volatility, through a portfolio of fixed income securities that are maturing on or before the maturity of the scheme along with capital appreciation through equity exposure. The scheme will allocate 80% to 100% of assets in debt and money market instruments with medium risk profile. It will further allocate upto 20% of assets in equity and equity linked instruments with high risk profile. Benchmark indices for the purpose of performance comparison will be 15% BSE 200 + 85% CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index. Mr. Nandkumar Surti and Mr. Namdev Chougule will manage the fixed income portion of the scheme. Mr. Harshad Patwardhan and Mr. Amit Gadgil will manage the equity portion.

ICICI Prudential Regular Savings Fund
Opens: November 15, 2010
Closes: November 29, 2010

ICICI Prudential Regular Savings Fund, an open ended income fund, aims at providing reasonable returns, by maintaining an optimum balance of safety, liquidity, and yield through investments in a basket of debt and money market instruments with a view to delivering consistent performance. The scheme will allocate up to 100% of assets in debt securities (including government securities) with maturity of more than one year and in money market securities. Debt securities include securitized debt (single loan and / or pool loan securitized debt) of up to 50% of the portfolio. It also includes derivative instruments to the extent of 50% of the net assets as permitted by SEBI. The scheme's performance will be benchmarked against Crisil Composite Bond Fund Index. The scheme will be managed by Mr. Chaitanya Pande.

Pramerica Equity Fund and Pramerica Dynamic Fund
Opens: November 19, 2010
Closes: December 3, 2010

Two funds – Pramerica Equity Fund and Pramerica Dynamic Fund – have been launched by Pramerica Mutual Fund. Pramerica Equity Fund will be an actively managed diversified portfolio, which will invest in equity and equity-related securities, including derivatives, debt and money market instruments. This equity fund, with a large-cap bias, will follow two investment approaches. The sector-rotation approach will involve identifying the right sectors for investment, while the special situation approach is a bottom-up strategy in identifying companies. Pramerica Dynamic Fund is a dynamic asset scheme in which investments will be managed by a tool, Pramerica DART (Pramerica Dynamic Asset Rebalancing Tool), developed by Pramerica Mutual Fund. The tool allocates assets to the fund by measuring the relative attractiveness of the markets and makes an optimum selection of debt and equity. It reduces the exposure to equity instruments when the markets are on a high and increases the equity-exposure when the markets are down. Thus, it makes an appropriate selection of assets based on market conditions. The scheme will allocate up to 100% in equities with a minimum of 30% in equities and the balance in debt and money market instruments. The two schemes will be managed by Mr Ravi Gopala Krishnan and Mr. Mahhendra Kumar Jajoo, Executive Director and CIO, Fixed Income.

Sundaram Capital Protection-oriented Fund Series II
Opens: November 22, 2010
Closes: November 30, 2010

This three-year closed-end fund, the second in the series, aims at providing income and minimising capital loss by investing in a portfolio of fixed income securities. A maximum of 20% of the assets can be invested in equities. The fund is AAA (SO) rated by CRISIL. The fund is benchmarked against the CRISIL MIP Blended Index. Dwijendra Srivastava is the fund manager for the debt portion and S. Krishnakumar is the fund manager for the equity portion.

Reliance Banking and PSU Debt Fund, Sundaram Money Opportunities Fund, Reliance Fixed Horizon Fund, DWS 3 in 1 Fund, IDFC Savings Scheme, IDFC Small Cap Equity, Canara Robeco Suraksha Fund, Axis Midcap Fund, Birla T 20 Fund, and Principal Dynamic Bond Fund are expected to be launched in the coming months.