NFO Watch - Standard Chartered Enterprise Equity Fund.

Standard Chartered Mutual Fund which has focused on Debt market products for the past five years and launched several innovative products, is trying to make a stand in Equity segment by launching its fourth equity oriented scheme, Standard Chartered Enterprise Equity Fund.

It is the first close ended equity-oriented scheme of Standard Chartered Mutual Fund. The scheme intends to invest in the available Equity Initial public offers (IPO). The scheme is the first new fund offer to hit the markets after the recent changes in mutual fund guidelines, announced by SEBI, where in open-ended diversified equity funds are no longer allowed to amortize charge initial issue expenses from the amount raised, but close-ended have been left out of this scaffold, thereby making them more attractive for the fund houses.

Equity IPOs lately have become the most lucrative way to invest in the stock markets, and the primary markets have seen a boom like never before. Primary markets saw a turnaround when Maruti came with its public offer a couple of years.
Investors waiting to have a slice in equity IPO’s that might hit the market will find investing in Standard Chartered Enterprise Equity Fund a lucrative proposition, as it will eliminate the need for them to conduct research to select the investment worthy IPO’s. It will also remove the burden of capital gain tax which they would have to pay on selling their shares.

The scheme is a close ended fund for the first three years and will be automatically converted into an open-ended equity scheme, on completion of three years. The scheme will provide for liquidity at every six-month interval. The general asset allocation as per offer document will be 65-100% in equity and equity related instruments and 0-35% in fixed income securities including money market instruments.

Mr. Kenneth Andrade and Mr. M. Kannappan will be managing the fund.