Merrill Lynch to launch Gold Fund

Lucknow, Mar 14 (UNI) Leading Asset Management Company (AMC) DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund is awaiting the central finance ministry's nod to launch its Gold Fund.

The offer document for the said fund has already been cleared by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

''The offer document now awaits necessary regulatory approval of the finance ministry, before it can be announced publically,'' Mr Vinay Shukla, DSP Merrill Lynch Vice President and Joint Head (Channel Sales) told UNI here.

The parent holding company Merrill Lynch has already attracted investments worth six billion dollars in gold funds internationally and posted stupendous returns over the years.

''Once launched, the fund would also be listed at the prestigious London Stock Exchange (LSE),'' Mr Shukla informed.

DSP Merrill Lynch will invest in gold businesses after careful analysis and evaluation of the target companies' past performance, business strategy and asset base to create wealth and add value to investors' portfolio.

Mr Shukla was town recently in connection with the opening of DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund's first office in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier, the company was operating through its channel partners and distributors in the region.

He estimated the mutual fund market in the state at Rs 4,800 crore with Lucknow alone accounting for almost Rs 2,000 crore.

On the current melt-down in the Indian stock exchanges, Mr Shukla noted the investor should have a long term perspective ranging between 3-5 years for capitalising on the Indian growth story.

''The market capitalisation of the Indian companies will double from their current levels in the next five years,'' he opined.

DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund is a wholly-owned subsidiary of DSP Merrill Lynch Limited, one of India's premier financial services companies and Merrill Lynch's joint venture in the country.

DSP Merrill Lynch has operations in 17 Indian cities.

The company has Asset Under Management (AUM) worth Rs 13,638 crore spread over 18 schemes in the country.

Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading capital-raising and advisory companies and owns just under half of BlackRock, one of the world's largest public traded investment management companies with approximately one trillion US dollars in AUM.

Meanwhile, as many as seven financial intermediaries have filed offer document with SEBI for launching Gold Exchange Traded Funds (GETF) in the country.

This would allow retail investors, financial institutions, NRIs and FIIs trade in gold on the stock exchange, just like common shares.

UNI