India's Quantum Asset Management Company (AMC) is taking proactive measures to protect investors in its small and mid-cap schemes in response to a directive from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The directive emphasizes the importance of establishing an investor protection framework, and Quantum AMC is committed to ensuring the resilience of its schemes in managing redemptions during market downturns. The company conducts stress tests on its schemes to evaluate their ability to withstand market volatility and maintain liquidity. Quantum AMC also employs rigorous fundamental analysis, focusing on price-to-earnings growth (PEG) metrics, to identify investment opportunities. Key initiatives include assessing fund capacity, maintaining liquidity, portfolio positioning, investment guardrails, and portfolio rebalancing. These measures reflect Quantum AMC's commitment to investor protection and its proactive approach in navigating market conditions [b56374a0].
India's asset managers are in discussions to launch a new mutual fund product that offers relaxed risk management norms but requires a minimum investment amount. The product aims to cater to investors seeking an intermediate investment option between mutual funds and portfolio management services (PMS). PMS products have higher risk strategies and a minimum investment amount of 5 million rupees. The discussions are in the early stages and will require approval from the market regulator [0f8385d2].
Old Bridge Mutual Fund has applied for its first fund with SEBI. The fund will be an actively managed equity scheme adopting the Multicap approach and investing in a maximum of 30 stocks. The scheme will have both regular and direct plans with growth and IDCW options. It will be managed by Kenneth Joseph Andrade and Tarang Agarwal. The minimum application amount will be Rs 5,000. The scheme will allocate assets to equity and equity-related instruments, debt and money market instruments, and units issued by REITS and InvITs. SEBI reviews the offer document to ensure compliance with regulations [e3285f23].
Quant Mutual Fund has launched the Quant PSU Fund, an open-ended equity scheme investing in the PSU subsidiaries sector. The scheme opened for public subscription on February 2, 2024, and will close on February 15, 2024. The objective of the scheme is to generate long-term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity and equity-related securities of public sector undertakings. The scheme has no entry load and an exit load of 1% for redemptions/switchouts within 15 days from the date of allotment. The scheme will be managed by Sandeep Tandon, Ankit Pande, Sanjeev Sharma, and Vasav Sahgal. The benchmark for the scheme's performance is the S&P PSU Index TRI. Similar mutual funds in the market include SBI PSU Fund, Invesco India PSU Equity Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life PSU Equity Fund, and ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund. Investors can invest in the scheme with a minimum investment of Rs 5000 per plan/option and there is no upper limit for investment [539aa9bc].
Siddharth Vora, Head of Quant Investment Strategies & at ETMarkets.com, manages over Rs 350 cr in AUM. The flagship style-adaptive, benchmark-agnostic, dynamic multi-factor strategy AQUA has returned 68.2% (net) since its inception in mid-June 2023, compared to BSE500 TRI's 33.7%, generating 2x returns vs benchmark for AQUA’s clients. The fund manager has a portfolio allocation of over 10% in the industrials and materials sector. AQUA's unique strategy includes sector rotation, granular alpha from an equal-weighted portfolio of 25-30 stocks, and a style-agnostic approach. The fund manager is confident in the outlook for Indian markets in FY 2025, with equity and precious metals emerging as preferred asset classes [eab638be].