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S. Vaidya Nathan

PIONEER ITI Mutual Fund, which manages a crop of equity schemes with a good track record and other income schemes, is set to be taken over by Templeton Asset Management (India), which has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire a 100 per cent stake in Pioneer ITI AMC.

The deal is likely to be completed within the next three months after completion of due diligence and approval by SEBI. The combined entity will have assets of around $1.65 billion under management. This will make it the second largest fund house in the country after Unit Trust of India.

Both the Pioneer group, US, and Investment Trust of India (now owned by the Sanjay Maloo group) have decided to sell out. Hence, the possible sale of Pioneer ITI AMC has been doing the rounds for quite some time.

No load on Birla funds: Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund has announced that there would be no entry load for its equity schemes Birla Advantage Fund, Birla Equity Plan, Birla MNC Fund and Birla IT Fund. This facility will be available till March 31. For those who invested between March 4 and March 31, there will also be no exit load at the time they decide to redeem their holdings.

No need of ads: SEBI has removed the requirement of advertisements of half-yearly and annual accounts of mutual funds in newspapers. However, mutual funds will be required to put up the information on their websites. They also would have to comply with the requirement of mailed annual reports and abridged reports to investors. The waiver of the advertisement requirement is desirable as it could cut transaction costs of mutual funds.

Alliance dividends: Alliance Capital Mutual Fund has declared a dividend of 2.5 per cent for the Short Term Plan of Alliance Govt.Securities Fund, 11.65 per cent for in the Long-term Plan and 8.2 per cent dividend in Regular Dividend Plan in Alliance Income Fund. These dividends were declared as on record date March 15. The dividends are tax-exempt in the hands of investors. The mutual fund has paid 10.2 per cent distribution tax on the dividends declared.

Canbank dividends: Canbank Mutual Fund has announced a dividend of 2 per cent for Cangilt, 7.50 per cent for Canpremium and 9 per cent for Cancigo. The record date for the purpose of dividends in Cangilt is March 27. The books will be closed between March 28 and April 6. For the other two schemes, the record date is March 26, and books will be closed between March 27 and April 12.

Zurich High Interest: March 26 is the record date for dividends in the Zurich India High Interest Fund (Short-Term Plan - Dividend Plan) instead of the first working day of April announced earlier. The fund has announced that from May 2002, the record date for dividend would be the first working day of the month.

Swap in HDFC Income: HDFC Mutual Fund has introduced a systematic withdrawal advantage plan (SWAP) for its HDFC Income Fund.

Investors will have the option of monthly, quarterly and half-yearly withdrawals. There will be no exit load on redemptions of units. The SWAP is based on using the lower capital gains tax.

First entry/exit load: First India Mutual Fund has announced a no-load offer for First India Income Fund and First India Gilt Fund till March 31.

An exit load of 0.5 per cent is now applicable if redemption is done within six months and three months respectively.

Zurich Leadership Fund: Zurich India Mutual Fund has indicated its intent to launch a Leadership Fund that would focus on investing with one theme: leadership in their respective business.

Kotak record date: Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund has announced March 13 as the record date for declaration of dividend in the following schemes: K-Gilt Savings Plan; K-Gilt Investment Plan; K-Gilt Serial Plans 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2019; K-Bond Wholesale Plan (Q and A); K-Bond Deposit Plan and Bond Serial 2002, Plan A.

All unitholders in the schemes are eligible to receive the dividend.

Any exit from Dividend Option A of the Wholesale Plan of Kotak Mahindra K-Bond Unit Scheme 99 will attract an exit load of 0.75 per cent of the applicable NAV, if such exit is within three months from the purchase of the units (where the purchase of units was on or after March 4, 2002) or within six months from the purchase of the units (where the purchase was before March 4, 2002).

US-64 prices: The repurchase price for unit holdings of up to 5,000 units (enhanced from 3,000 units) will be Rs 10.70 per unit in March under the Special Liquidity Package. This is a rise of 10 paise over the February levels.

The package was offered from August 2001 at Rs 10 per unit and is due to end in May 2003 at Rs 12 per unit. From March 1, 2002, the sale price under the package will be Rs 10.70 per unit.

For holdings in excess of 5,000 units, a repurchase facility linked to the NAV is available from January 2, 2001. For less than 5,000 units, the assured repurchase price for May 2002 is Rs 12 per unit.

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