25% surge in assets managed by Reliance Mutual Fund
Despite demonetization slowing the economy, Reliance Mutual Funds witnessed a 25% surge in assets under its management in the third quarter of the current fiscal. It also saw 8% growth in profit to Rs. 151 crore and 10% increase in its Systematic Investment Plans during the same period. Reliance Capital said that overall, the company registered growth in all its businesses.
RCAM is an unlisted public limited company and is a subsidiary of Reliance Capital Limited (RCL). It is the asset manager of Reliance Mutual Fund (RMF). RCL holds 56.23%, Nippon holds 35%, while others hold 8.77% of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital of RCAM. RCL has business interests in asset management, life insurance, and other activities in the financial services sector.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management Company acquired Benchmark Mutual Fund, an Indian fund house for Rs. 130.5 crore. Benchmark managed assets worth around Rs. 3000 crore. All Benchmark employees were retained by the new management. Benchmark was the country's only fund house with a sole focus on exchange-traded funds (ETF). ETF is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, just like stocks.
Standard Chartered had sold its mutual fund business in India to Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) in 2008. American multinational financial company Fidelity had sold its mutual fund business to L&T Finance in 2012. HDFC MF had acquired Morgan Stanley's business in 2014. There were 40 fund houses left in India with AUM of Rs. 133 lakh crore, with HDFC leading the race.
Reliance Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund were the frontrunners in the race to acquire Goldman Sachs' fund management business. Reliance was likely to bid aggressively as it wanted to bridge the gap between number 2 company ICICI mutual fund and them. HDFC was looking to retain its numero-uno position in the market. The deal would also help the acquirer in the ETF business.
In terms of mutual fund AUM, HDFC MF is the largest (Rs.1.71 lakh crore), followed by ICICI Prudential (Rs.1.65 lakh crore) at second and Reliance MF (Rs.1.53 lakh crore) at third place.
Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) announced the acquisition of Goldman Sachs' mutual fund business in India for Rs.243 crore. RCAM would acquire all 12 onshore mutual fund schemes of Goldman Sachs Asset Management India with total Assets Under Management of Rs.7,132 crore. The transaction would make Reliance the exclusive fund manager for the government's Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) Exchange Traded Fund.
