Warburg To Manage Uti Offshore Index Fund

This would be the first index fund launched by any Indian institution.

The choice of the lead manager was made from a few leading investment banks out of which UTI had short-listed three investment banks, including Peregrine and WI Carr.

The fund is expected to be launched anytime during the first half of November for which the road-shows are likely to commence by October-end. It would be targeting investors largely from Europe, parts of the United States and Asia.

Though the Index Fund would be an open-ended, the initial response is expected to be around $150-200 million.

On the issue of appointing a second or co-lead manager for the fund, it being an open-ended fund, the question of a syndicate would not arise. The decision on whether another manager would be appointed would be taken depending on the response to the issue, UTI sources said yesterday.

 

Sources at SBC Warburg do not foresee any need even at a later point of time for another investment bank, though any institution can bring in its own clients.

UTI proposes to list the fund only in one exchange out of a probable choice of Luxemburg, Dublin and London stock exchanges. The final decision would taken by the lead manager who is expected to take up these matters soon.