Endurance Tech might list at a premium

Automotive parts maker Endurance Technologies could list at a 15 per cent premium if grey market deals are anything to go by. The initial public offering (IPO), which closed on Friday, was subscribed 43 times with good demand from institutions and high net worth individuals. The two previous issues - ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and HPL Electric & Power - were listed at a discount of 11 per cent and six per cent, respectively, to their issue price. A positive listing of Endurance would improve sentiment of primary market investors. However, they will have to wait a bit longer, as Endurance's listings will get delayed due to two market holidays this week.

G Pradeepkumar is Amfi vice-chairman

In a move that could bring some parity between large and small players in the mutual fund sector, G Pradeepkumar, chief executive officer, Union KBC, was elected vice-chairman of the Association of Mutual funds in India on Friday. According to industry sources, this is the first time a person who is not from a top-five fund house has been elected vice-chairman. "This will give smaller fund houses a boost because they will have proper representation in Amfi," says the chief executive of a fund house. On the same day, A Balasubramanian, CEO of Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, was elected Amfi chairman.

Fund houses find novel ways to attract clients

Though the Securities and Exchange Board of India has favoured reduction in commission to distributors, fund houses are finding novel ways of paying more to attract funds. Recently, a fund house raised Rs 600 crore in its balanced fund scheme through institutional players. While it paid only one per cent as commission to banks, it struck a deal to compensate them for pushing its products by paying a whopping 10 per cent on funds in its portfolio management services that the banks distributed. Many feel that this defeats the purpose of bringing down costs for the sector.