New Fund: OSK-UOB Capital Protected Essentials Fund

As the world population continues its growth led by the emerging countries coupled with the higher purchasing power, the demand for the essentials or basic commodities (i.e. those that we use daily such as cotton for clothing, corn and sugar for food, crude oil for energy) have significantly increased. Further, with the imbalance of increase in demand and slower growth in supply, this has also resulted in a situation where consumers now and going forward have to pay more for fuel, clothing and food.

With the expectation of further increase in the prices of these essentials or basic commodities, OSK-UOB has established a fund that will capitalize on the price movements of these essentials or basic commodities, which is OSK-UOB Capital Protected* Essentials Fund.

Fund Asset Allocation:

Indicative Asset Allocation

Over The Counter (OTC) Option:

A 4-year option whose underlying reference is a basket of 4 commodities, i.e. Brent Crude Oil, Cotton, Sugar and Corn, and each commodity is represented by a listed futures contract.

Why it also called "Memory Option" ?

This is because the option is structured to provide 4 annual coupon payments during the tenure of the fund, if at the relevant observation date, all of the 4 underlying reference commodities prices are greater than or equal to their initial reference prices determined at the commencement date of the fund. It has a "memory" component i.e. the annual coupon payable can be carried forward if it failed to met the conditions for a particular year.

103% Capital Protection?

Yes. The capital protection covers the investors' capital investment and includes the 3% sales charge payable by investors.

Hence, the fund is suitable for investors who:

1. have a low risk tolerance;
2. seeks capital protection*;
3. seek potential returns from commodities essential to our daily lives;
4. have a medium term horizon; and
5. seek income

Download the fund prospectus here

Source: OSK-UOB Investment Management

* Investors are advised that the fund is not a guaranteed fund. Capital protection is provided through investments in ZNIDs and not by a guarantee. Consequently, the return of capital is SUBJECT TO the credit/default risk of the issuers of the ZNIDs and may result in losses.

New Fund: OSK-UOB Focus Bond Fund - Enhanced

In view of the current volatile markets culminating from the Eurozone debt crisis, investors are concern about the contagion effect on the domestic and global economies. Amid the recent volatility, some believe there are opportunities arising from bond investments that will offer consistent and regular income to investors. Hence, OSK-UOB now offer investors an enhanced bond fund that has the potential to provide higher regular income^{^} during the tenure of the Fund and capital appreciation at its maturity date from a concentrated portfolio of global debt instruments / bonds and from an option structure to provide the potentially higher income.

The OSK-UOB Focus Bond Fund – Enhanced (“the Fund”) is a 3-year close-ended, income fund which aims to provide regular income during the tenure of the Fund and capital appreciation at its maturity date primarily from a concentrated portfolio of global debt instruments / bonds. Generally, the Fund aims to achieve its objective through a two-fold strategy.

1. Fixed Income portionThe first is to invest in a concentrated portfolio of fixed income securities to provide a stable income stream. In managing the fixed income portfolio of the Fund, the External Investment Manager will generally seek out global debt instruments / bonds that are able to offer attractive yields (i.e. yields that are greater than the Fund’s benchmark net of expenses) and/or capital appreciation during the tenure of the Fund. Given the Fund’s 3-year tenure, the External Investment Manager will invest in a concentrated portfolio of not more than 20 global debt instruments / bonds to lock-in the yield.
   
2. Option portionThe Fund will also invest in a 3-year OTC call option that is referenced to a yield enhancement strategy(YES). The YES Option is denominated in Singapore Dollar (SGD) and the Fund will have 150% Participation Rate in the YES Option’s annual returns. As the tenure of the Fund is 3 years, the YES Option is designed to provide 3 annual coupon payments during the 3 years tenure of the YES Option. As such, there will be 3 observation periods for the determination of the performance of the YES Option (i.e. the 3 annual coupon payments).

Its indicative asset allocation is as follows:

• 92% - 100% of Net Asset Value- Investments in global debt instruments/bonds.

• Up to 3% of Net Asset Value- Investments in the YES Option.

• Up to 5% of Net Asset Value- Investments in liquid assets including money market instruments and deposits with financial institutions.

^{^}Note: The income (if any) is in the form of cheque payments.

Source: OSK-UOB Investment Management

Click here to download the prospectus 

New Fund: AmConsumer Select - Capital Protected

AmInvestment Bank is launching a new capital-protected fund and it is optimistic of a good take-up rate for this RM100mil new fund. According to its CEO, the launch of the fund is timely in view of the current macroeconomic uncertainties. Since it is capital protected, the fund offers a safe haven for risk-averse investors looking to hedge against the uncertainty in the global market, she adds.

The Fund is a close-ended fund which aims to provide regular income with an investment horizon of 2.5 years (30 months) whilst providing capital protection on Maturity Date. The Fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in ZNIDs and/or MGS and an over-the-counter option linked to the price movement of a basket of five (5) consumer related stocks.

For the purpose of the Fund, consumer related stocks refer to stocks of companies that produce products/services that are consumed by individuals. Selection of consumer related stocks is based on fundamental strength of the companies through internal research and brands that the Manager considers to be widely known among investors.

The Strategy...

Generally, the Fund will adopt a two-fold strategy to achieve its objective, i.e.

1. Capital protection* from fixed income portion
   At the Fund’s commencement, a minimum of 85% of the Fund’s NAV will be invested in 2.5-year ZNIDs and/or MGS with shorter or similar maturity tenure to the Fund’s maturity, which upon maturity of the Fund will achieve an amount equivalent to 100% of investor’s initial capital (which includes entry charge payable by investors). A maximum of 5% of the Fund’s NAV will be maintained in cash and/or money market instruments for liquidity purposes.
   
   
   
2. Fund’s return from option portion
   At the Fund’s commencement, up to 10% of the Fund’s NAV will be used to purchase a 2.5-year USD denominated option with an option counter-party, which is a financial institution carrying a minimum long-term rating of “A” by S&P or the equivalent rating by any other global rating agency. The option provides exposure which is linked to the price movement of a basket of five (5) consumer related stocks.

At the end of each quarter, if the closing price of each of the stock is at or above its respective initial level on any day within the quarter, the option counter-party pays a conditional coupon. The income distribution (if any) will however be paid half yearly to investors.

The basket of five (5) consumer related stocks (indicative selection only) currently identified as

follows:

If the Coupon Payout Condition is met at any quarter, the coupon payout from the option

counterparty is calculated as follows:

Coupon (RM) = (Notional Amount / USD/RMInitial) x coupon rate (settled in USD) x

USD/RMEnd

• “USD/RMInitial” refers to the USD/RM exchange rate for the determination of the Notional Amount in USD as at Commencement Date.
• “USD/RMEnd” refers to the actual USD/RM exchange rate for conversion of the coupon (received by the Fund) from USD to RM.

* Investors are advised that the Fund is not a guaranteed fund. Capital protection is provided through investments in ZNIDs and/or MGS and not by a guarantee. Consequently, the return of capital is SUBJECT TO the credit/default risk of the issuers of the ZNIDs and/or MGS and may result in losses.

Source: AmMutual