Soros Hikes Stake In Gic Asset To 40 Per Cent

George Soros has increased stake in GIC AMC to 40 per cent from 33 per cent through his firm, SC Management.

The hike in holding was done through fresh capital infusion by way of a rights issue in the ratio of 1:2. Post-rights, the paid up equity capital has increased to Rs 20 crore.

The asset management company currently manages funds worth around Rs 1,000 crore.

It has also applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) seeking permission to reduce the front-end load to three per cent from the current six per cent.

GIC Growth Plus II, one of the close-ended schemes launched in 1994, is being converted into an open-ended plan and to this end the company has send letters and the ballot papers to the unit holders seeking their permission for the same.

Each unit holder is entitled to one vote irrespective of the number of units being held.

The fund also proposes to modify certain provisions it wants to get delisted from stock exchange. At present, sales of additional units is not permitted. This is planned to be changed after ensuring that the sales load does not exceed three per cent.

One new feature is the systematic withdrawal provision, which enables the investors to withdraw fixed amounts every month for 12 months.

The minimum amount for this is Rs 500 and further in multiples of Rs 100. The Mediclaim and personal accident insurance cover, which is available in the scheme now, is proposed to be deleted.

At present, increasing the corpus and adding investors are not permitted.

This the AMC plans to be change by permitting non-resident Indians, foreign institutional investors, overseas corporate bodies to do so subject to prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India.