Short-term plan in super-saver

S. Vaidya Nathan

ANZ GRINDLAYS Mutual Fund has offered a short-term investment plan for the Grindlays Super-Saver Income Fund Scheme. The plan is open-ended, has no entry load, and a contingent exit load of 0.25 per cent of NAV. The units are eligible for redemption within a month of investment. The parent scheme, Grindlays Super Saver, has a corpus of Rs 325 crore. The new short-term plan will also maintain a portfolio of similar bluechip debt instruments.

Grindlays Mutual Fund has declared a dividend of Rs 0.25 per unit (face value of Rs 10) to all unitholders in the dividend option of Grindlays Super Saver Fund. The primary objective for the fund is to maintain a quality portfolio in government securities and AAA-rated bonds.

US-64 sales: Unit Trust of India's flagship fund, US-64, grew 71 per cent in November 30 over the corresponding period of 1999. The sales in November was Rs 2,161 crore and the number of investors was 1.94 lakh as against 1.12 lakh in 1999.

Alliance dividend: Alliance Capital Mutual Fund has declared a dividend of 7 per cent (Rs 0.07 paise per unit) for the Alliance Monthly Income Plan for the month of November.

Zurich dividend: Zurich India Mutual Fund has fixed December 22 as the record date for determining unitholders who would be eligible for dividend under the Zurich India Equity Fund. The NAV of the scheme will be ex-dividend on the next day, December 25.

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Birla dividend: Birla Mutual Fund has fixed December 15 as the record date for dividend under the Dividend Plan (Plan A) of Birla Income Plus, Birla Cash Plus and Birla Gilt Fund (Dividend Plans of Liquid Plan, Investment Plan and Long Term Plan). The NAV will be ex-dividend from December 18.

Sun F&C Value Fund: Sun F&C Mutual Fund has fixed December 18 as the record date for Sun F&C Value Fund (Dividend Plan). The NAV will be on an ex-dividend basis from December 19.

Focus on NPAs: The Unit Trust of India has set up a special group to keep a tab on non-performing assets to preserve asset quality and reduce NPAs. The UTI is considering one-time settlements to reduce NPAs. It has reduced its gross NPAs from 5.68 per cent in July 1999 to 5.11 per cent in July 2000, and net NPAs from 3.87 per cent to 2.97 per cent.

Birla MIP re-opens: The monthly income plan of Birla Mutual Fund, Monthly Income Plan, with no assured returns, will reopen for investment and redemption on an ongoing basis from December 18. The initial offering period closed on November 17.

Tata Fund change: Tata Finance has proposed to divest 50 per cent of its stake in Tata Asset Management Company to Toronto Dominion Asset Management. The fund has secured approval from Foreign Investment Promotion Board. Tata Finance holds 26 per cent stake with Tata Sons and Tata Investment Corporation holding 37 per cent each.

SUS '99 in trouble: The Special Unit Scheme '99, created to bail US-64 out of its holdings in PSU stocks, recorded a loss of Rs 2,000 crore. This accounts for 60 per cent of the original value of assets assigned to scheme. The cost of investments is Rs 3,334 crore. The fund had a net income of Rs 54.33 crore mainly on account of dividends.

Tata Fund corpus: The corpus of Tata Mutual Fund increased to Rs 692 crore as of October 31 from Rs 534 crore as on March 31, the jump being largely due to the rise in the corpus of Tata Income Fund, whose base has moved up from Rs 264 crore to Rs 345 crore. The corpus of the equity funds increased from Rs 65 crore to Rs 110 cores, while that of the Tata Young Citizens Fund has gone up to Rs 52 crore from Rs 28 crore.

US-64 prices: The Unit Trust of India has fixed the sale price and repurchase price for US-64 at Rs 14.10 per unit and Rs 13.80 per unit respectively for October. These prices represent a 10-paise rise over the November prices.

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Jardine Fleming India Fund: The shareholders of Jardine Fleming India Fund Inc. have approved an investment management agreement with Jardine Fleming International Management Inc., the fund's advisor. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The special meeting and the shareholder vote to approve the new agreement were necessitated by a change in control of Jardine Fleming International Management Inc. About 98 per cent of the shareholders approved the proposal for a new contract.

Approved securities: Seven open-end equity and debt schemes of SBI Mutual Fund were declared approved securities by the Government of Maharashtra. Charitable and other trusts, which usually invest only in government-approved securities, can now invest in MagnumInsta Cash Fund, Magnum LiquiBond, Magnum TaxGain, Magnum Multiplier, Magnum Equity Fund and funds under the Magnum Sector Funds Umbrella.