Tag: #securities

Mutual Funds 1O1- Types (Part II)

In this article, we will take forward the conversation we started in “Mutual Funds 1O1- Types (Part I)”. If you haven’t given the previous article a read at- https://eduindexnews.com/2021/06/22/mutual-funds-1o1-types-part-i/ ,I would recommend doing that for better understanding.

Now, that we are all caught up let’s start from where we left:

3. Debt Funds Debt funds aim to provide safety and regular income to investors through investing in the fixed income instruments like Government bonds, corporate debentures etc. The periodic interest received on these bonds is used to provide regular income to unit holders in the form of dividend. These funds are considered less risky in comparison to equity funds. However the NAV of these funds is influenced by the market interest rate movements. If the interest rates in the market moves up, NAV of these funds declines and vice-versa. If an investor plans to exit at the maturity of the scheme then he is not affected by such movements. There are several types of debt funds like: 

3.1 Diversified Debt Funds: Diversified debt funds invest the corpus of the scheme in the debt securities of various sectors and in the government as well as corporate debt instruments. Because of inherent safety of debt and added diversification, these schemes are considered to offer moderate to low risk and return to its investors. 

3.2 High Yield Debt Funds: High yield debt funds are the mutual fund schemes which invest in the below investment grade bonds with a rating of BB or lower than that. Because these bonds are quite risky therefore in order to attract the investors they offer high yield. Thus in spite of debt investments these schemes offer high risk-high return to its investors. The NAV of these schemes is quite volatile and the scheme’s portfolio has high default risk and in turn high return. 

3.3 Fixed Maturity Plan (FMP): FMPs are Close ended schemes, issued by Mutual funds, and mature at fixed maturity date. It could be 15 days, 30, 90, 141, 180 or even 365 days. Some even have a three or five-year time frame. At the end of this period, the scheme matures, just like a fixed deposit. FMPs invest in fixed income instruments, like bonds, government securities, money market instruments (very short-term fixed return investments) etc. The objectives of FMPs are to generate steady returns over a fixed maturity period and protect the investors against market fluctuations. FMPs are typically passively managed fixed income schemes with the fund manager locking in to investments with maturities corresponding with the maturity of the plan. 

3.4 Floating Rate Debt Funds: These funds invest in floating rate debt securities. Example: rate of 10 year G-Sec +1%. Their NAV fluctuates less than debt funds investing in fixed rate instruments because their coupon rate moves in line with the market interest rate. 

3.5 Gilt Funds: Gilt funds as the name implies are the schemes which invest in the safest debt instruments. These schemes invest in the long term government bonds which do not have any risk of default. However these long-term bond prices are affected by the general interest rate movements and follow an inverse relationship. Thus NAV of the gilt fund goes down when interest rates in the market go up and vice-versa. A short term investor has to be careful about these movements 

3.6 Money Market or Liquid Fund: Money market mutual funds are often used by short term retail investors or corporates to park their short-term surplus funds. These funds offer the highest safety of principal and liquidity of funds to its investors. These funds invest the investor’s money in safe and liquid debt instruments like certificate of deposits, commercial papers, call and notice money market etc. These instruments are quite safe and have negligible default risk. At the same time they have very short maturities and therefore are not much influenced by interest rate movement because in such a short span of time there is very low probability of adverse interest rate movements. Thus money market mutual funds are considered as least risky among all the mutual funds 

4. Hybrid Funds: Hybrid funds are the funds which allocate the funds in the equity as well as debt securities. There are various types of such funds like: 

4.1 Balanced Fund: Balance funds also known as hybrid funds aim to provide the investor the capital appreciation of equity as well as regular income and safety of debt investment. They invest the pool of funds received from the investors under the scheme in the judicious mix of equity and debt instruments. The perfectly balanced fund will invest 50% of corpus in debt and 50% in equity. An equity oriented balanced fund will invest more than 65% of corpus in equity while a debt oriented balanced fund will allocate less than 65% of its corpus in equity. Thus they offer moderate risk and return to investors. 

4.2 Monthly Income Plan (MIP): The investment objective of the Monthly Income Plan is to distribute dividends among its unit holders, every month. It therefore invests largely in debt securities (75 to 80% of their corpus) so that periodic interest received from such debt investments can be used to declare regular dividends. However, a small percentage is invested in equity instruments to improve the scheme’s yield. 

4.3 Capital Protection Funds: Capital protection fund is a fund whereby the AMC (asset management company) safeguards the capital invested, irrespective of the fund’s performance. These schemes ensure the capital protection for the investors by investing in the government securities with no risk of default. A calculated portion of corpus is invested in fixed income instruments to ensure the capital protection and balance in equity for some capital appreciation in the portfolio. This calculated portion is decided by applying the time value of money concepts to the returns received in the fixed income instruments. For example, Let us assume in a capital guaranteed scheme, a person invests Rs.10000 and the scheme is a close ended scheme for 3 years. After 3 years, he has to be given back at least Rs.10000.Fund will invest Rs.7938 in Debt fund generating a return of 8% which will provide Rs.10000 after 3 years. Rs.2062 will be invested in the derivative market and will generate returns or at the most it may remain Rs.2062. If it remains Rs.2062, the investor will get back Rs.10000+2062= Rs.12062 a return of 6.45%. 

5. Fund of Funds: A mutual fund which invests the pool of funds collected from the investors under the schemes, in the other mutual fund schemes is called Fund of Funds. Just as a mutual fund invests the funds in different securities like equity, debt etc., a fund of funds holds units of many different mutual fund schemes and cash/ Money market securities / Short term deposits. A fund of funds permits investors to achieve the appropriate diversification and suitable asset allocation with investments in various fund categories that are all packaged in the form of one fund. However, if the fund of funds carries an operating expense, investors are essentially paying double for an expense that is already included in the expense figures of the underlying funds. 

While the liquid funds are perceived as least risky and therefore offering lowest returns, the sector funds give highest returns though at the cost of huge risk. Other schemes have varying risk-return profiles which may be categorized as high, moderate & low risk-return combinations etc. as shown in the figure. 

Initial Public Offers in India

Initial Public Offer (IPO) is a process through which an unlisted Company can be listed on the stock exchange by offering its securities to the public in the primary market. The objective of an IPO may be relating to expansion of existing activities of the Company or setting up of new projects or any other object as may be specified by the Company in its offer document or just to get its existing equity shares listed by diluting the stake of existing equity shareholders through offer for sale.   

The companies going public raises funds through IPO’s for working capital, debt repayment, acquisitions, and a host of other uses. When a firm proposes a public issue or IPO, it offers forms for submission to be filled by the shareholders. Public shares can be bought for a limited period only and as per the law, any IPO should be traded openly only for minimum 3 days and maximum 21 days.   

Some major benefits accruing to the firms going for an IPO are as under :  

• Public placement of shares on a stock exchange allows the company to attract capital to fund both organic growth (modernization and upgrade of production facilities, implementation of capital-intensive projects) and acquisitive expansion. If retained earnings and debt funding are insufficient, IPO becomes one of the most realistic and convenient ways to secure the continuing growth of the business. It provides access to a massive, timeless pool of capital and boosts the investment credibility of the business.

• Formation of a public market for the company’s shares at fair price creates liquidity and provides an opportunity to sell the shares promptly with minimal transactional costs. The private owners of the company can dispose of their stakes in the business both during an IPO (this route is often taken by the minority financial investors such as venture or private capital funds) and at a later stage (this is often preferred by the majority shareholders).

• Normally, an IPO is an offer to a large number of institutional and retail investors to become shareholders of the company. The very multitude of large investors and their confidence in the liquidity of their investment in a public entity assure the current owners of a private company about achieving the maximum possible valuation of the business at the time of an IPO or afterwards.

• Listing on a recognized stock exchange means that the business will receive wide media coverage, usually a very favorable one, thus increasing the company’s visibility and recognition of its products and services. The company’s activities will also be reflected in the reports by professional financial analysts. Such public profile supports liquidity of the shares and contributes to the expansion of the business contacts. It also helps to increase confidence among the company’s business partners.

• A company having low-transparency businesses with an inadequate financial reporting after listing on a recognized stock exchange becomes a desirable and reliable partner. Banks are often ready to extend loans to public companies in larger amounts, under smaller collateral, for longer maturities and with lower interest rates. Even the largest and most prestigious banking institutions are keen to work with public companies – whose transparency and corporate governance serve as additional factors of confidence for banks and other suppliers of credit. Partners and contractors of a public company feel more confident about its financial state and organizational capabilities as compared to those of a non-transparent private business.

• Publicly available information about the share price of a public company allows development of employee motivation schemes based on partial remuneration of staff in the form of participation in the equity capital (for example, ESOP –Employee Stock Option Plan). Equity-based incentive schemes stimulate the key personnel to become more efficient in their work in order to support the company’s growth rates and profitable development, which in turn increase the operational and financial efficiency of the company and its market value.

• Conduct of various due diligences during the IPO process requires a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the company’s business model. During the IPO implementation process, certain internal changes take place, including modification of the organizational structure; selection of the key personnel and delegation of responsibilities; improvement of internal reporting and controls; as well as critical evaluation of the efficiency of the entire business. Normally, such extensive internal efforts result in significant improvements of the communication system, management and controls; they also help eliminate any previously hidden shortcomings in the internal functioning of the business.  

However, before launching its IPOs, a company must disclose all the relevant information to the public and its prospective investors. For that matter, company making a public issue of securities has to file a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI through an eligible merchant banker prior to the filing of prospectus with the Registrar of Companies (RoCs). The issuer company engages a Sebi registered merchant banker to prepare the offer document. Besides due diligence in preparing the offer document, the merchant banker is also responsible for ensuring legal compliance. The merchant banker facilitates the issue in reaching the prospective investors by marketing the same. The Indian regulatory framework is based on a disclosure regime. SEBI reviews the draft offer document and may issue observations with a view to ensure that adequate disclosures are made by the issuer company/merchant bankers in the offer document to enable investors to make an informed investment decision in the issue.   

DRHP provides all the necessary information an investor ought to know about the company in order to make an informed decision. It contains details about the company, its promoters, the project, financial details, objects of raising the money, terms of the issue, risks involved with investing, use of proceeds from the offering, among others. However, the document does not provide information about the price or size of the offering.  

Generally, the stock of any fundamentally sound company would go up after being listed in an exchange. Hence, as far as investors particularly retail ones are concerned, the IPO is the only place where they can get the stock at the lowest possible price. Hence if they buy stocks in an IPO, they can sell it off at a higher price and make a profit.

However, there are certain factors which need to be taken into consideration before applying for Initial Public Offerings in India. They are :  

• Promoters, their reliability and past records

• Firm producing or facilitating services

• Product offered by the firm and its potential

• Whether the firm has entered into a collaboration with technological firm

• Status of the associates

• Historical record of the firm providing the Initial Public Offerings

• Project value and various techniques of sponsoring the plan

• Productivity estimates of the project

• Risk aspects engaged in the execution of the plan

• Authority that has reviewed the plan  

Thus, IPO is an opportunity for the company as well as the investors looking for long term capital and investments. But, less than 5% of India’s household savings of around $ 300 billion are invested in stocks and mutual funds, according to India’s central bank, depriving companies of a huge pool of potential funding for investments. Indians have typically preferred to put their money in gold jewelry and real estate. Some investors moved into stocks after markets began to boom in 2005, but a collapse in prices after 2008, allegations of wrongdoing and a number of IPOs that fell sharply after listing have turned many investors off. Moreover, Individual investors remain wary of equities. India’s benchmark Sensex gained 26% in 2012, but remains near where it traded at the end of 2007, leaving many investors without gains. Indian Capital Market had traded a long way but it needs more extended participation by the investors to make stock exchange a investment trading platform rather than a speculation platform.