wealthforumtv

HDFC Asset Management marked down the value of its holdings in Essel Group’s non-convertible debentures (NCDs) by Rs 120 crore during the quarter ended March 2020. The country’s second largest mutual fund has taken the losses in its books as it had bought out Essel Group’s papers worth Rs 500 crore in June 2019 from its debt schemes in an attempt to shield unitholders. But the move drew the ire of the company’s shareholders.

Many investors are having second thoughts about their investments in debt mutual funds. Most advisors are asking investors to stay away from most debt mutual fund categories, expect for overnight and liquid funds. Credit risk funds have witnessed large outflows. What is in store for debt funds? Shivani Bazaz of ETMutualFunds.com spoke to Mahindra Jajoo, CIO- debt, Mirae Asset, to find out what is his take on the scenario. Also, what does he think about the government economic package and RBI’s surprise rate cut. Edited interview.

Franklin Templeton mutual fund is getting ready to kick-start the liquidation process of its six wound-up debt schemes. In a letter that it shared with its distributors earlier today, the fund house has explained its plans of starting the liquidation process. Moneycontrol has a copy of this letter.

IT stocks will continue to give high single digit returns to long term investors even though in the short term it may remain volatile, says Aditya Khemani, Fund Manager.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund will stop accepting fresh money in two of its debt schemes — Medium Term Fund and Credit Risk Fund — temporarily from May 22. The fund house said the move is aimed at benefiting the existing investors in the two schemes.

The Covid-19 pandemic shows no signs of vanishing; the much-awaited economic package from the government hasn’t cheered the market. d the market. Add to that the predictions of more lockdowns and economic disruptions. We reached out to S Naren, Executive Director & CIO of ICICI Prudential MF, to make sense of these trying times.

Liquidity measures and the loan moratorium have bought financial institutions, particularly the lending franchises, some time as far as asset- quality issues are concerned but looking at the high-frequency indicators, the return to normalcy is still a fair way off and the asset quality pressures could eventually surface," Chockalingam Narayanan, Head – Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, says in an interview to Moneycontrol's Sunil Shankar Matkar.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has suspended fresh inflows into its Credit Risk and Medium Term funds from 22 May 2020. The schemes were exposed to both IL&FS group and Essel group papers in the past, which it had written down. Fresh systematic investment plans (SIPs) and systematic transfer plans (STPs) will also not be registered in the two schemes. However, existing SIPs and STPs can continue.

For investors in Franklin Templeton's funds, being allowed an exit via the stock exchanges is a definite relief as it would prevent money being locked away but on the downside the plan could entail a haircut on deposits. Going the stock exchange route would mean a faster exit but at depressed prices. Staying put in the fund till maturity or when full refund is made will be a long drawn process but investors could get a better payout due to the expertise of fund manager and advisor in handling underlying assets, said experts.

Franklin Templeton Trustee Services Pvt. Ltd. has appointed an independent advisor to work together with Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Pvt. Ltd (the AMC), to assist the Trustees in monetizing portfolios of the six schemes that are being wound up. The Trustees have appointed Kotak Mahindra Bank, who, through its Debt Capital Markets team, will work closely with the Franklin Templeton Trustees, to assist with all portfolio actions in these six schemes that are being wound up ..

The trustees of Franklin Templeton India on Wednesday appointed Kotak Mahindra Bank to assist the trustees in monetising portfolio of the six shuttered schemes. "The Trustees have appointed Kotak Mahindra Bank, who, through its debt capital markets team, will work closely with the Franklin Templeton Trustees, to assist with all portfolio actions in these six schemes that are being wound up," said Franklin Templeton in a press statement.

Franklin Templeton India could take as long as half a decade to repay money to unitholders who had invested in its now wound-up debt mutual funds schemes. In an email addressed to investors the fund house carved out the timeline for returning investor money, reported Bloomberg. Franklin Templeton India on April 23, announced that it will close six of its debt mutual funds schemes, freezing over Rs 30,000 crore of investor’s money. The fund house said that the move was made due to the liquidity crisis emerging in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The wounding up of the six schemes meant that unitholders were neither allowed to make redemptions or subscriptions.

The meltdown in the markets following the coronavirus outbreak has been unprecedented. Investors want to know when this will all end and a recovery will start. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. In such circumstances, it pays to listen to those who have years of experience in the market and have been through all its phases. Anoop Bhaskar of IDFC Mutual Fund is one such name. Bhaskar has experience of over 27 years in the mutual fund industry. He has managed a variety of funds in his career, many of which have proved to be highly rewarding for their investors. We speak to him to get the lowdown on the current crisis.

Investors in some of the credit funds run by Franklin Templeton’s India unit may have to wait over five years to fully recoup their money, the asset manager said in an email to investors. The email and attached documents, which were seen by Bloomberg and confirmed by the company, laid out the latest timeline for scheduled cash flows. The timing could wind up being sooner, as any sale of the underlying assets in the frozen funds in the secondary market and prepayments or accelerated payments made by issuers of debt in the funds would quicken the payout, according to the documents.

Ajay Tyagi, Executive Vice-President and Fund Manager for Equity at UTI AMC, busts a few myths about equity investing in bear markets, mutual fund SIPs and the so-called bad patch for financial stocks. Read on…