Street signs: SBI MF sees juice in Manpasand, Sebi pulls up MFs, and more

SBI MF sees more juice in Manpasand

SBI Consumption Opportunities and SBI Large & Midcap have increased their exposure in Manpasand Beverages, which was under a cloud after its auditor resigned. The consumption fund picked up 0.39 million shares of the firm in June, while the large and mid-cap fund increased its exposure by another 1 million shares. Another fund bought a smaller stake, while other schemes kept their holdings unchanged. The data for July is awaited. In the past three months, shares of Manpasand Beverages have corrected 66 per cent after Deloitte quit as auditors on grounds that “significant information” was withheld from them.

                                                                                                                                                                                      -Jash Kriplani
 

Lakshmi Vilas Bank MD forgoes salary

The banking sector has largely been plagued with several problems such as non-performing assets and fraud. However, Lakshmi Vilas Bank and its head Parthasarathi Mukherjee are now the focus of the investing community. While Mukherjee, who became managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the bank in December 2015, is working on non-performing asset resolution, he stopped drawing salary since February 2018. “At a time when CEOs of bigger banks with worse problems continue to draw large salaries, this is a great example of commitment,” says a fund manager. However, this appreciation will only be reinforced when these funds start investing in the bank.                                                                                                        -Joydeep Ghosh 
 

MFs rapped over steep commissions 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has pulled up two fund houses over paying upfront commissions of as high as 6.5 per cent to distributors. According to people in the know, one of the fund houses in question paid these commissions to garner assets for its new fund offer (NFO). The best practices guidelines put out by industry body Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) cap upfront distributor commissions at 100 basis points. However, several fund houses have been defying this diktat, prompting Sebi to call for a meeting with Amfi this week.

                                                                                                                                                                                        -Jash Kriplani