Date:20/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/20/stories/2005102002171500.htm

Back Sahara MF plans infrastructure fund

Our Bureau

Kolkata , Oct. 19

SAHARA Mutual Fund has worked out a scheme to invest chiefly in companies operating in the infrastructure sector.

Sahara Infrastructure Fund will come with two pricing options, fixed and variable, with growth and dividend sub-options. The pricing options differ in the manner in which AMC fees are charged.

The usual fixed pricing mechanism is in line with what is practised by the asset management industry. Under the variable pricing option, the fee charged will change on the basis of performance.

The fund, with Nifty as its benchmark, will normally invest at least 70 per cent in equities.

More and more investments are likely to be made in the infrastructure sector in the coming years, the offer document sent to SEBI has mentioned, adding that private and foreign investments are likely to result in capital expenditure in energy, petroleum, telecommunications, transportation and so on. Broadly, infrastructure relates to energy, power, oil & gas, mining, steel, cement and the like. Banking and financial services are not excluded either.

Sahara Infrastructure Fund will follow a mix of top down and bottom up policies. The former studies macro-economic issues, identifies the right industries, assesses growth prospects and picks fundamentally good companies. The bottom up approach first locates the scrips based on market information and expectations. It, then, analyses their relative strengths and weakness.