Shoppers' Stop IPO oversubscribed
Mumbai: The intial public offering (IPO) of retail giant Shoppers' Stop Ltd was oversubscribed within a few minutes of its opening. The IPO opened for bidding following a Supreme Court clearance granted on Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had asked Shoppers' Stop Ltd to put its IPO on hold, until further orders, following an order passed by the Shillong bench of the Gauhati High Court.

The North East Investors Association had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the High Court against the IPO. The court would hear the PIL today, the release said.

The company had planned to tap the markets during April 27-May 3 to raise Rs147-175 crore for funding its outlets across the nation estimated to cost about Rs130 crore.
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Chola Mutual set to launch four more products
Hyderabad: The Chola Mutual Fund, a Murugappa Group company, plans to introduce four more mutual fund products soon. The Chennai-based company currently has eleven schemes in operation and manages funds in excess of Rs1,000 crore.

According to MF officials, the MF has already submitted its proposals on two products to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and expects their approval shortly.

The first product, the Tax Saver, offers benefits under Section 88 of the Income-Tax Act. Following the changes proposed by the Union Ministry of Finance for the said Section during the recent Budget, the market regulator is currently awaiting clarity on the Section and benefits before approving the product, officials have indicated.

The second product, the Dynamic Index Fund, which proposes to invest in the 50 stocks of Nifty, is also awaiting the SEBI approval, according to officials.

The mutual fund company has also designed two debt products and would be submitting them to SEBI for its approval shortly. These products include Short-term Floating Rate Fund and Fixed Maturity Plan.

The company has already tied-up with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Union Bank for the distribution of its mutual fund products.

Around 10 per cent of its business currently comes through the banking channel, and the company is negotiating with a few banks for similar alliances and expects the business from the banking channel to improve to over 25 per cent of total volumes.

These banks include Andhra Bank and StanChart Bank.
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Sahara Mutual to launch Sahara Wealth Plus
Kolkata: The Sahara Mutual Fund has proposed the Sahara Wealth Plus Fund, a broad-based equity scheme for investing in companies expected to emerge as wealth builders over the long-term.

The fund will keep the S&P CNX 500 index as its benchmark, and will chiefly invest in equities. The minimum exposure to this class of assets will be 70 per cent. Up to 30 per cent may be allocated to debt and money market instruments.

The proposed scheme will be the fourth equity product from the Sahara MF stable, and the first since the fund brought about top-level changes, including the induction of a new CEO Rajiv Shastri (formerly Head - Fixed Income, ABN Amro MF). The existing equity funds - Sahara Growth, Sahara Tax Gain and Sahara Midcap - are all diversified.

The MF, meanwhile, has sought regulatory approval for what has been named Sahara Cash Plus Fund. This will work out a portfolio of quality debt and money market instruments; exposure to the latter will be 70 per cent under normal circumstances.

The offer document filed with SEBI captures the current ownership structure of the asset management outfit, formerly the Dr A.C. Muthiah-controlled First India MF. It shows that Sahara India Financial Corporation, a residuary non-banking company according to the RBI, has become the sponsor of Sahara MF.

The paid-up capital of the asset management company, incidentally, stands at Rs25.8 crore. Its directors include Subrata Roy, O.P. Srivastava, Sanjiv Kapoor and Suresh Chukkapalli. The last two are independent directors.

Sahara India Financial Corp, the group flagship that is engaged heavily in deposit mobilisation, is the majority shareholder (controlling 50 per cent) of the AMC, the other stakeholders being two ventures in the Sahara fold, each holding 25 per cent of the capital.
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