Public Mutual launches ‘Public Islamic Savings Fund’ today

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KUCHING: Public Mutual Bhd (Public Mutual) is launching a new Islamic fund, Public Islamic Savings Fund (PISVF) today.

PISVF is an Islamic equity income fund that seeks to provide income over the medium to long term period by investing in a diversified portfolio of primarily syariah-compliant Malaysian stocks, it stated in a press release.

The fund would focus on investing in companies that have demonstrated consistency in rewarding their shareholders via dividend payouts. PISVF might also invest in syariah-compliant growth or recovery stocks that have the potential to eventually adopt a dividend payout policy.

Public Mutual’s chief executive officer Yeoh Kim Hong said, “As PISVF focuses its investments mainly in the domestic market, the fund offers investors an opportunity to capitalise on Malaysia’s resilient economic growth prospects in the medium to long term. The performance of selected syariah-compliant sectors of the Malaysian economy is expected to remain supported by sustained consumer and investment spending over the longer term.”

PISVF would allow investors the opportunity to participate in a diversified portfolio of blue chip stocks, growth stocks and fundamentally undervalued stocks.

Due to the sharp retracement in equity markets at the end of the third quarter of 2011 on concerns over the slowing pace of global economic growth and the European sovereign debt crisis, selected stocks listed on the domestic equity market have been trading at below trend valuations, offering attractive investment opportunities.

In order to achieve increased diversification, the fund might also invest up to 30 per cent of its net asset value (NAV) in selected foreign markets including Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Luxembourg and other permitted markets.

The equity exposure of PISVF would generally range from 75 per cent to 98 per cent of its NAV, making PISVF suitable for investors with moderate risk reward temperament and having preference to receive income.

The initial issued price of PISVF would be RM0.25 per unit during the 16-day initial offer period from December 15 to 30 this year, with the minimum initial investment at RM1,000 and minimum additional investment of RM100.

During the offer period, special promotional service charge of five per cent of initial issue price per unit would be extended to the purchase of units of PISVF.

Investors opting for direct debit instruction with PISVF during the offer period would enjoy a special promotional service charge of 5.25 per cent of NAV per unit for as long as the direct debit is active. PISVF will be distributed by Public Mutual’s unit trust consultants.