UTI eyes new schemes, realty investment trusts

RESHUFFLE Company looks to merge old funds, simplify existing portfolio, focus on emerging asset classes

India’s oldest mutual fund house, UTI Asset Management Company is looking to regain lost glory. The company is looking to consolidate and refresh many of its old schemes under new MD Leo Puri.

MUMBAI: India’s oldest mutual f und house, UTI Asset Management Company, which had been in the spotlight following shareholder differences over the appointment of its managing director, leading to loss of considerable market share, is looking to regain lost glory.

The company, which was without a head for two years since UK Sinha left to join as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India in 2011, is looking to consolidate and refresh several of its old schemes under its new MD Leo Puri. It will also look at newer investment avenues such as real estate investment trusts or REITs and structured debt.

“We do have legacy funds and actually we are now very actively merging them. Being a 50-year-old fund house, we do carry some schemes that go back to 20-30 years. We are refreshing those products or merging them and our intention is to have a much cleaner, simplified portfolio over the course of this year,” Leo Puri, MD, told HT.

The company currently manages 27 equity funds, 9 balanced funds and 13 debt fund schemes.

UTI is also going to explore emerging asset classes such as real estate and structured debt, as it aims to broaden the product suite for its institutional and high net worth customers, he added.

It already has an infrastructure fund and a growth fund as a part of its alternative asset investments, through its arms like Ascent-Capital Advisors and UTI Ventures Fund Management.

The company manages assets of about ` 75,000 crore and is the country’s fifth-largest fund house. The Indian mutual fund industry’s asset under management hit ` 9 lakh crore in 2013-14, according to data by the Association of Mutual Funds in India.

Puri, previously a director and senior adviser at consultancy McKinsey and Co and managing director with private equity firm Warburg Pincus, took over as MD at UTI in August last year.

Under his leadership, the company is also looking to address new growth opportunities in areas like retirement and pension funds and international business.

“As far as international business goes, we are more focussed on the inbound business that is getting more foreign fund flows into Indian equities and debt. US, Europe and Japan are key markets here,” said Puri.

The company is in the the process of adding 101 branches to improve penetration in smaller towns.

It is also open to acquisitions in the industry to grow its business, added Puri.