ABN Amro AMC to unveil five plans

ABN Amro Bank officials along with executives from the asset management company - both local and global - were in Mumbai to announce the launch of the AMC. The mutual fund is planning a diversified equity scheme, a money market fund, a monthly income plan, a dynamic bond fund and floating rate fund.

Nikhil Johri, the chief executive of the AMC in India, said that the approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is expected in the second half of this month and the tentative dates for the initial public offerings are scheduled between July-end and middle of August.

The AMC will be using the usual distribution channels and by the end of 2005, it is expecting to have ten branch offices in the main urban centres.

Against the mandatory requirement of Rs 10 crore capital, the AMC has brought in Rs 30 crore worth of capital, Johri said. While the bank holds 75 per cent stake in the AMC, the remaining stake is held by a private individual, J R Desai, from Delhi.

Johri also pointed out that the AMC is concentrating on its core business of asset management while the rest of the surrounding work - back office and front office - is being outsourced. "We do not need large teams,' he said.

The team in India consists of around 25 people. Hubert Boumeester, global chief executive officer of ABN Amro Asset Management, said that globally the AMC followed the policy of 50 per cent growth organically and 50 per cent through acquisitions.

Globally the AMC manages assets of Euro 166 billion as on March 31. While assets under management in emerging markets are Euro $18 billion. Among the emerging markets, Taiwan comes up tops.