SBI Mutual Fund announced the launch of SBI Equity Opportunities Fund - Series I, a three year close-ended equity scheme, here on Friday.

The fund will invest in a well-diversified portfolio of equity and equity-related securities across market capitalisation and sectors. The fund will remain open from September 11—25, a release issued here said.

It will invest 80-100 per cent of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments and up to 20 per cent in debt and money market instruments, the fund house said.

“The close-ended nature of the fund would allow the fund manager far more flexibility to create a portfolio with long term view and invest into stocks with a three-year perspective in sectors like e-commerce, manufacturing exports, defence and education,” SBI MF’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Dinesh Khara told reporters.

He said that although there is no bias to any specific segment, current opportunities lie in the mid and small cap segments. The fund will invest in 40-50 odd stocks, he said.

To reduce the risk of the portfolio, the scheme may also use various derivative and hedging products for hedging and rebalancing purposes, in the manner permitted by SEBI.

The scheme is benchmarked against BSE 500 and has two plans namely, a direct plan and a regular plan, with both of offering growth and dividend option.

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