Winding up to take time, says Franklin
NEW DELHI: Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund, which closed six debt schemes, has said the winding-up process will be delayed in the absence of authorisation from investors and further steps will be possible only after seeking fresh approval from them.
It further said that investors who do not have an e-mail ID or mobile number registered with the fund house will not be able to participate in the voting process.
The date at which the voting would start has not been disclosed yet.
Over the next few days, the trustees will send a notice related to the voting process and unitholders’ meet to the participants in the six schemes being closed. The notice will be sent for each scheme separately, the fund house said in a letter to its distribution partners.
The voting activity and the unitholders meet will be an electronic exercise and it will be conducted separately for each of the six schemes. Apart from the letter, the fund also issued answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs).
Investors are being asked to vote as schemes can be wound up only after repaying the amount due to the unitholders. The steps to wind up the schemes include active monetisation of assets and return of the investment proceeds to the unitholders. “In the absence of authorisation, the winding-up process will be delayed as further steps will be possible only after seeking a fresh authorisation from the unitholders,” Franklin Templeton MF said in the FAQs.
K Fintech, which will carry out the voting process for the fund house, will send an e-mail link to the registered e-mail IDs of the primary account holders of each scheme. In case the e-mail ID has not been registered, then the notice will be sent to the registered mobile number and the notice will have a link that will give access to the e-voting platform.
Investors who do not have an e-mail ID or mobile number registered with the fund house will not be able to vote. “Registration of an e-mail ID/mobile number in our records is mandatory for receiving user ID and password to access the e-voting platform,” the fund house said.
The unitholders will have a three-day window to participate in the e-voting process.
It further said that each unitholder is entitled to vote only once per scheme that they have invested in, irrespective of the number of units.
The fund house said that investors will have two options on how the scheme assets should be monetised—“authorise the trustees assisted by Kotak Mahindra Bank as independent advisor and supported by the asset management company (AMC) or authorise Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP assisted by the AMC with the AMC being advised by Kotak”.