LIC mutual fund is planning to launch an open-ended income scheme and will shortly file the document with Sebi. The scheme targets an initial corpus of Rs 100-150 crore. LIC mutual fund recently closed Dhanvarsha (13), a five year close-ended assured return scheme, with collections of around Rs 165-170 crore against the target amount of Rs 150 crore. Earlier this year, Dhanvarsha (11) and Dhanvarsha (12) were launched with a return of 13.5 per cent per annum on Dhanvarsha (12) as compared to 14 per cent on Dhanvarsha (11). Dhanvarsha (11) had managed to rope in Rs 40 crore while Dhanvarsha (12) collected over Rs 150 crore.

UTI Bond Fund takes 57% exposure to AAA securities

UTI Bond Fund has invested up to 57 per cent of its corpus in triple A rated corporate debt. The fund, launched earlier this year, had a 51 per cent exposure to AAA rated corporate debt as on September 23 which has been steadily increased to 57 per cent as on October 16. The fund holds 30 percent in AA+ rated debt, 3 per cent in double A, 5 per cent in A-, 4 per cent in A + and 1 per cent in A rated corporate instruments. The top ten are debt holdings from Reliance, MTNL, IDBI, Mahavir Spinning, Telco, Indian Rayon, Tisco, Larsen and Tubro, Tata Chem and Sterlite. The average duration of UTI Bond Fund's portfolio is 1.79 years, which is very much in line with that of private sector asset management companies. The fund, which initially mobilised Rs 137 crore, has seen its corpus grow to Rs 303 crore. This makes it the second largest open-end income fund after Birla Income Plus.

New fund from Prudential ICICI

Prudential ICICI is set to launch a growth fund that will invest up to 70 per cent of its corpus in Unilever group companies in India. Christened Prudential ICICI Lever Fund, the scheme is the first of its kind in the country to target a a specific group. So far, funds have only targeted a specific sector or industry. The AMC has filed the prospectus with the Securities & Board ofIndia and the scheme is likely to open for subscription in October. The fund will be a high risk-high return scheme where returns will move in tandem with the performance of three companies - Hindustan Lever, Vashisti Detergents,and HLL.