Birla Sun Life MF launches 3-yr close-ended fund

New Delhi, Apr 11: Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund today announced the launch of a three-year close-ended equity fund which aims at generating consistent long-term appreciation by investing predominantly in equity and equity-related securities of Small and Mid Cap companies.

Christened 'Birla Sun Life Long Term Advantage Fund- Series-1,' it's performance would be benchmarked against the BSE 500 Index.

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, one of India's leading mutual funds, would target the Small and Medium Companies as it has the potential of generating superior returns during the next three years, Mr Mukul Gupta, CEO of the Company, said here.

"Mid and Small cap companies now quote at a substantial discount to the large - cap companies and hence offer better risk to reward and investment opportunities," Mr Gupta said, The closed - ended nature of the fund allows fund managers the flexibility to focus on long - term wealth creation, without unduly worrying about short - term liquidity concerns, he said.

This fund will invest in a portfolio of attractively priced Small and Mid Cap stocks that are expected to post attractive growth, he said.

'BSLAF- Series 1,' seeks to construct a portfolio with an endeavour to out perform its benchmark index , he said.

The lock in period will ensure that the intervening volatility of the stock markets does not impact as long as the markets perform over the three-year horizon. Moreover, in an upward trending market, investing in a closed-end fund prevents one from encashing too early and thereby miss the larger rally.

Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Ltd, since its inception in October 1994, has emerged as one of India's leading AMCs with over Rs 19,300 crore of assets under management and an investor base of over 11 lakhs.

It offers a range of comprehensive investment options, which includes diversified and sector specific equity schemes, hybrid funds and a wide- range of debt and treasury products.

UNI