The Hindu Business Line : UTI Mutual may re-position Grandmaster

The MF is interested in re-positioning Grandmaster in line with what some of the other asset management companies have done lately - they have introduced a genre of schemes that has come to be popularly known as `Opportunities Fund'.

UTI MF, indicated Mr Ashutosh Bishnoi, Chief Marketing Officer, hopes to tap more informed investors with a new-look Grandmaster.

The idea is to approach a segment that was not being approached earlier, despite the obvious demand that exists for such a product.

Grandmaster, in its current format, is an open-ended scheme that seeks to invest at least 80 per cent of the assets in equity and equity-related instruments with the objective of achieving long-term capital appreciation.

Introduced in 1993, the scheme has provided compounded annualised returns of 9.05 per cent (as on October 29, 2004) since inception, as against 8.09 per cent delivered by the BSE Sensex.

It last dividend - 15 per cent - came in November last year. The size now stands at around Rs 45 crore.

As for the new-look entity, there are a few role models for UTI MF, although it is not openly labelling them as such. And not all these schemes carry the `Opportunities' tag either.

These include the recently-launched HDFC Core & Satellite Fund, a scheme that has a significant portion of its portfolio in the so-called satellite stocks.

The schemes that may be merged - UTI MF is not naming them at the moment - will be among the relatively smaller schemes that the MF currently manages.

These, Mr Bishnoi observed, will not be part of the well-known `Master' series. The likes of Mastershare 86, Master Value and Mastergain, therefore, can be safely kept out of the purview of its plan.

The MF, it is pointed out, will try to enter those product segments that it is yet to get into. This is a process that has been going in for some time, and is reflected in some changes that have already been brought about.

Such include the re-positioning (following a re-naming) of US 95, which has now come to be known as UTI Balanced Fund.

The re-christening has also helped in comparing the scheme with other products in the balanced category, an important issue insofar as indices are concerned.