KUCHING: Public Bank Bhd’s (Public Bank) wholly-owned public unit-trust arm Public Mutual Bhd (Public Mutual) is launching its new fund Public Islamic Asia Leaders Equity Fund (PIALEF) today.
In a statement released yesterday, it said the fund will enable investors to tap on the growth potential of middle to large caps shariah-compliant companies trading in domestic and regional markets.
“These companies are positioned to benefit from the anticipated recovery in Asian markets due to their financial strength and dominance,” said its chief executive officer Yeoh Kim Hong, adding that global and regional markets have rebounded strongly last year amid expectations that the global economy would continue to recover.
“Moving into 2010, continued fiscal stimulus and accommodative policy measures are expected to sustain the global economic recovery with regional economic growth envisaged to outpace the growth of developed economies.
“Over the medium-term to long-term, regional markets are expected to outperform due to their reasonable valuations, high savings rates, brighter economic growth prospects and stronger fiscal positions.”
PIALEF is an Islamic equity fund that seeks to achieve capital growth over the medium- to long-term period by investing mainly in companies with market capitalisation of US$1 billion and above, within both domestic and regional markets that comply with Shariah requirements.
These companies tend to have leading positions and established market shares that will allow them to perform well during robust as well as challenging market conditions. The fund may invest in sectors which include infrastructure, telecommunications, manufacturing, consumer, technology, conglomerates and natural resources.
The equity exposure of PIALEF will generally range from 75 per cen to 98 per cent of its net asset value (NAV). PIALEF is suitable for aggressive investors who would like to be in the position to reap benefits from the recovery in Asian markets.
The initial issue price of PIALEF is RM0.25 per unit during the 21-day initial offer period from today to Feb 8.
The minimum initial investment for the fund is RM1,000 and the minimum additional investment is RM100, during which special promotional service charges as low as five per cent of initial issue price per unit are extended to the purchase of units of PIALEF.
Moreover, investors who opt for ‘Direct Debit Instruction’ with PIALEF during the offer period will enjoy a special promotional service charge of 5.25 per cent of NAV per unit for as long as the direct debit is active. The offer is subject to terms and conditions.
PIALEF is distributed by Public Mutual’s unit trust consultants. Interested investors can contact any Public Mutual unit trust consultant or call its Customer Service Hotline at 03-6207 5000 for more details.
Public Mutual is Malaysia’s largest private unit trust company with 72 funds under its management and has over 2,000,000 account-holders. Currently, the total NAV of these funds is estimated at around RM35.6 billion.