StanChart Enterprise Fund yet to take plunge

Standard Chartered Enterprise Equity Fund, a unique scheme, which would invest only in initial public offerings of companies has yet not invested in shares, a fund official said Wednesday.

The scheme, which raised Rs 1,455 crore during new fund offer from April 19 to May 16, holds 90-95 per cent in cash. The rest is held in money market securities.

"No investment in initial public offering has been made so far, owing to volatile market conditions," the official said.

The scheme seeks to invest its corpus in equity IPOs, follow-on issues, and also to benefit from cash and derivatives market opportunities.

In the absence of IPOs, the scheme would invest in index futures and debt and money market securities. In terms of asset allocation, the scheme would invest at least 65 per cent of its corpus in equities.

Since 16 May, when the new fund offer of the scheme ended, initial public offers of Deccan Aviation, Gangotri Textiles, Unity Infraprojects, Rathi Udyog, and Prime Focus have closed. There were also follow-on offers of D S Kulkarni and Developers and Patel Engineering.

In June, issues from DLF and Binani Industries are expected, among major IPOs. All Cargo Global and Blue Plast have also lined up public offerings.

StanChart Enterprise Equity Fund is a three-year close-ended equity scheme.