ASNB announces income distributions for three funds

KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) has announced income distributions for Amanah Saham Malaysia 3 (ASM 3), ASN Equity 5 and ASN Sara for the financial year ended Sept 30, 2019.

ASNB said in a statement that ASM 3 – the fixed-price fund previously known as Amanah Saham 1Malaysia – has declared an income distribution of five sen per unit.

It would pay out a total income distribution amounting to Rm670.5mil to 496,705 unit holders of ASM 3 who hold over 13.6 billion units.

ASNB also declared an income distribution of 3.75 sen per unit for ASN Equity 5 amounting to a total distribution of Rm15.10mil. This is a mixed asset conservative fund.

As for ASN Sara 2, it is 4.20 sen per unit and the total distribution is Rm46.6mil.

ASNB is wholly owned by Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB).

PNB group chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Aziz said: “PNB is pleased that our efforts to accelerate our asset diversification, including greater exposure into global assets, to mitigate the challenging domestic equity market have supported the performance of all three funds.

“Despite the current market conditions, we continue to see an increase in the number of our units in circulation across our 14 funds, with ASN Sara 2 successfully attracting 27,804 unit holders who subscribed for 1.1 billion units just one year after its launch.

“This is a reflection of the trust that the unit holders have placed in PNB, which we will always strive to uphold.”

The two variable price funds, ASN Equity 5 and ASN Sara 2, were introduced last year to cater to different categories of investors with varied risk appetites.

ASN Equity 5 is an equity growth fund that caters to the younger generation of investors that aim for higher growth in capital and net worth, seeking to generate a reasonable level of capital appreciation and income distribution through a diversified investment portfolio.

ASN Sara 2 is a mixed-asset conservative fund tailored for more mature and riskaverse investors who prefer a steady income stream with long-term growth potential.

The computation for income distribution is based on average monthly minimum balance held throughout the financial year for ASM 3 while for ASN Equity 5 and ASN Sara 2 will be based on the units held at the end of the financial year of the funds.

Distribution declared will be re-invested as additional units into the accounts of unit holders and automatically credited on Oct 1 for ASM 3 and on Oct 2 for ASN Equity 5 and ASN Sara 2.