Baroda Pioneer MF plans fund of funds scheme

Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund is mulling to come up with a fund of funds scheme to provide investors an opportunity for diversification through exposure to global equities and also to fill up the product gap in its portfolio, a top company official has said.

 

"We are evaluating this space. As of now, we don't have any product in the fund of funds category. This will also help investors to diversify their asset base," Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund Managing Director Jaideep Bhattacharya told PTI.

 

He also said the company could easily rope in one of its sponsors, Pioneer Investments for a fund of funds scheme.

 

Pioneer Investments is one of the oldest asset management companies in the US. It was acquired by the Italy-headquartered banking group UniCredit and has assets under management of 160 billion euro by the end of June 2013.

 

Bhattacharya, however, said the company has not filed for any product in this category for approval with the regulator yet.

 

Fund of funds scheme has witnessed high interest among fund houses in the recent time on the back of depreciating rupee along with economic recovery in western economies, especially the US.

 

Also, weak domestic equity market on the back of falling growth has prompted fund houses to attract investors to invest in global equities as part of the diversification strategy.

 

Recently, ICICI Prudential has launched an open-ended fund of funds scheme-- ICICI global stable equity fund-- which has the mandate to invest in global equities.

 

Also, in July, JP Morgan MF has launched an offshore fund of funds scheme 'JP Morgan US value equity off-shore fund' to enable domestic investors to have exposure in the US equity market.

 

Baroda Pioneer Mutual fund is the joint venture between public sector lender Bank of Baroda and Pioneer Investments and has an assets under management of Rs 7,140 crore as of the June quarter.