Exit option from Kothari Pioneer

S. Vaidya Nathan

FOLLOWING a change in management and in accordance with the SEBI guidelines, Kothari Pioneer Mutual Fund has offered investors the opportunity to exit from any scheme without load. The offer is applicable to units held as on October 10 and closes on November 15.

The offer is pursuant to a change in the sponsors, with the UniCredito Italiano group acquiring the investment business of the Pioneer Group Inc (the parent company of Pioneer Investments). The acquisition is subject to SEBI approval and has been cleared by the trustees of Kothari Pioneer Mutual Fund. UniCredito has assets worth $80 billion under management.

As the offer is optional, and given the track record of the fund, investors in the various schemes of Kothari Pioneer can ignore the offer. However, it may pay to track the performance of the fund and the continuance of key personnel in the fund under the new foreign sponsor.

Alliance '95 dividend: Alliance Capital Mutual Fund has announced a dividend of 30 per cent (Rs 3 per unit) for the open-end balanced fund, The Alliance'95 Fund. The dividend would be payable to investors listed on the record date of October 13. The fund has also invested Rs 1.39 per unit of Rs 1000 per unit for Alliance Cash Manager for the week ended October 20.

No reinstatement privilege: Alliance Capital Mutual Fund has announced that the `reinstatement privilege' offered to them in The Alliance'95 Fund and Alliance Equity Fund is being withdrawn. This is with effect from November 30. Investors redeeming or switching of these schemes and wanting to re-enter at any time after November 30 would be charged the applicable sales load. The schemes do not charge any redemption (exit) load.

Canpremium dividend: Canbank Mutual Fund has announced a dividend distribution of 10 per cent (Rs 1 per unit) on Canpremium Scheme. The record date for income distribution was October 24.

K-Bond exit norms: Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund has altered the load structure and dividend frequency for the K Bond scheme. The changes are applicable to the wholesale and deposit plan of the scheme. The changes are effective October 3. The exit load has been revised to 0.25 per cent (existing structure: 0.50 per cent) on redemption of units within three months of the purchase. There is no exit load beyond this period. The 15-day notice period for redemption beyond this date is no longer applicable.

Jardine Fleming buyback: Jardine Fleming India Fund Inc. accepted 3,036,836 common shares for payment at a price of $12.5495 per share as per its tender offer which closed on October 12. These shares represent 30 per cent of the fund's outstanding shares as of August 24. A total of 8,078,707 shares were properly tendered and not withdrawn by midnight of October 12, the final date for withdrawals.

Therefore, on a pro-rated basis, 37.6 per cent of the shares so tendered by each tendering stockholder have been accepted for payment. Jardine Fleming India Fund Inc., a closed-end investment company, is managed by Jardine Fleming International Management, Inc., an indirect subsidiary of The Chase Manhattan Corp.

Defer valuation norms: The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has asked SEBI to defer the implementation of the new norms on valuation of securities to October 16 as funds would take time to implement the new norms.

HDFC mobilisation: HDFC Mutual Fund has mobilised Rs 654 crore under its three schemes in the initial offering period which closed on August 10. The income scheme had Rs 397 crore, the growth scheme Rs 136 crore and the balanced scheme, Rs 121 crore. The schemes are now available for sale and repurchase on an ongoing basis.

US-64: From September 1, the UTI will issue membership advice in place of unit certificates to facilitate issuance of duplicate in case of loss/theft, etc., for its flagship fund US-64. Unitholders will continue to enjoy all benefits as hitherto. Investors who want to pledge/assign or sell their holdings through a stock exchange may approach the UTI for the issue of unit certificates in place of the membership advice.

Delisting of US-95: The UTI has delisted Unit Scheme-95 (US-95) from the from NSE (Wholesale Debt Segment) with effect from August 1.

US-64 prices: The Unit Trust of India has fixed the sale price and repurchase price for US-64 at Rs 13.90 per unit and Rs 13.60 per unit respectively for October. These prices represent a 10-paise rise over the September prices.