Franklin Templeton to buy out Hathway holding in JV
Franklin Templeton Investments on Tuesday said that it would acquire full control of its joint venture in India, buying out 25 per cent stake owned by Hathway Investments, a part of Rajan Raheja group, for an undisclosed amount.
With the deal, Franklin Templeton will now become one of the few foreign asset management companies (AMC) in India to own 100 per cent stake in the Indian mutual fund business.
The company announced here that it would buy out the stake, owned by Rajan Raheja group since 1980, subject to regulatory approvals and execution of the agreement.
However, both sides remained tight-lipped over the cash component of the deal. “The full acquisition of our Indian asset management arm reinforces Franklin Templeton’s long-term commitment to India. Rajan Raheja has made a strong contribution to our success in India and provided valuable guidance to make the partnership successful. We hope to find new opportunities to work with him again in the future,” Vijay Advani, Executive Vice President, Franklin Resources said.
However, the fund has not yet decided to change its director board, sources said.
Rajan Raheja, who was a part of AMC’s director board said: “We are happy to have played a part in building a strong financial institution. Though we will not be an active participant, our best wishes are with them for all their future endeavours.”
Stan Chart launches arbitrage fund
MUMBAI: After UTI AMC and JM Financial AMC, it is the turn of Standard Chartered Mutual Fund (SCMF) on Tuesday announced to launch an arbitrage fund. Compared to the other two schemes, the Standard Chartered Arbitrage Fund will be a 100 per cent arbitrage scheme.
The fund would utilise the arbitrage opportunity that exists in the market to gain from difference in prices in the spot and futures market, Naval Kumar Bir, managing director, Standard Charted Mutual Fund said.
“Considering the price discrepancies that exist at times in spot and futures markets, the Standard Chartered Arbitrage Fund will purchase securities in the spot market for immediate resale in the futures market to profit from the price spread available at the time of sale,” Bir said.
He added that the fund was best suited for investor¿s, who would like to benefit from a relatively low risk product.
“Dividends here are tax free and all capital gains over one year are totally tax free,” he said.
The new fund offer, which opened on Tuesday, closes on November 30.
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