Aditya BSL Medium Term
Manager Biography and Fund Strategy
Portfolio manager Maneesh Dangi heads the fixed income desk at Aditya BSL AMC and is also the Co-Chief Investment Officer at the fund house. He has an extensive experience of over 15 years in research and fund management and has been with Aditya Birla Sun Life since January 2006. An experienced portfolio manager Dangi is ably supported by a equally strong team of fund managers and analysts.
The fund’s focus lies in taking active credit bets. The team’s ability to evaluate credits and invest across credit buckets with a view to optimise returns is important, especially given that the fund invests a significant portion of its assets in sub AA+ rated papers. The strategy allocates a small portion of its assets to G-Sec’s. Hence a combination of duration bets and credit calls drives the fund’s strategy.
The process is very stringent, both on the G-Sec as well as the corporate bonds side. The fixed income team could take structural, cyclical, medium-term or short-term views. They track headline indicators and tend to follow a market-linked strategy as opposed to a pure macro-based strategy. The issuer selection process on the corporate bond side is extremely detailed and based on a well-defined set of processes.
The team relies on their internal ratings and processes as opposed to external credit rating agencies. Analysts tend focus on the promoters, corporate governance, liquidity and risks among other.
The fund is a solid option for investors looking to invest into a relatively higher yielding med-term fund.
DSP BlackRock Equity Opportunities
Manager Biography and Fund Strategy
Rohit Singhania has over 12 years of experience in research and portfolio management. He joined DSP BlackRock Investment Managers in 2005 as a research analyst in its payment management services division and moved to the equity investment team in June 2009. He took over the management of this fund in 2015.
Singhania implements an unconstrained, benchmark-agnostic approach without any biases towards any particular stock or sector. He manages the fund with a rather aggressive investment style, which involves churning of the portfolio frequently to capitalize the investment opportunities arising in the interim. He, therefore, does not hesitate to increase or reduce allocations swiftly in response to rising and falling stock prices. Additionally, he believes in buying and selling in huge amounts to create a difference in the portfolio.
Interestingly, the manager typically scouts for investment opportunities in large-cap names where he sees any trend emerging with regards to (for instance) cash flows or return of equity (ROE). The mid-cap portion of the portfolio is fairly stable, which is in line with his belief that they need more time to deliver, which in turn necessitates a longer investment horizon.
Given Singhania’s investment style, the fund displays an apparent large-cap bias as it accounts for nearly 70-75 per cent of the portfolio, with the balance invested in small/mid-cap stocks. Taking cash calls is not a part of the strategy and is capped at roughly 7.5 per cent of the portfolio. Singhania constructs a diversified portfolio of 60-70 stocks. The fund is a suitable for investors who are looking to invest into an aggressively managed large and mid-cap fund.
Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip
Manager Biography and Fund Strategy
Neelesh Surana is an experienced manager and Chief Information Officer, Equity at Mirae Asset India. Surana joined the fund house in 2008 and has more than 20 years of experience in equity research and portfolio management. He is an accomplished manager whose strength lies in bottom-up stock-picking.
The fund was historically positioned with a small and mid-cap orientation, but with recent changes in its features, it will move into the newly-defined large and mid-cap category. However, the portfolio is not expected to change drastically as it always maintained 30 per cent in large caps stocks.
The investment philosophy of the fund is centered on building a portfolio with high-quality businesses with good credentials. The team combines fundamental analysis with quantitative screens, seeking high earnings growth potential companies, strong balance sheets and high cash flow. The fund also seeks for price value gap in stock selection and considers a variety of metrics such as P/E, P/B and EV/EBITDA.
The team further filters and invests in companies that generate EBITDA/cash flow of around 100 crores. They avoid investing in smaller companies as the idea is not to buy at an early stage, but to invest in evolving mid-caps that have the potential to become large-caps. While selecting mid-cap stocks, Surana looks for slightly higher ROE and growth rate as compared to the large-cap stock, given these stocks come with liquidity and other risks.
The fund is a suitable option for investors looking to make investments in large and mid-cap stocks.
