New equity fund from Reliance MF
Kolkata: Reliance MF, which became the largest mutual fund in India at the end of January, plans to launch a mew fund that will invest in the S&P CNX Nifty stocks in line with the sectoral composition of the index.

The proposed Reliance Equity Advantage Fund, with retail and institutional plans, will aim at long-term capital appreciation by investing at least 70 per cent in equity and equity related securities.

The fund's secondary objective is to generate consistent returns by investing in debt and money market securities. Up to 30 per cent may be allocated to debt and money market instruments.

The fund has introduced an overall limit of 100 per cent of the portfolio value - net assets, including cash for the purpose of equity derivatives in the fund, the offer document filed with SEBI has mentioned.

The fund will endeavour to replicate the sector allocation of the S&P CNX Nifty on a monthly basis Reliance MF has mentioned, and has added that at least 80 per cent of the equity investments will be in the Nifty constituents and the balance in other stocks.

The Nifty, managed by India Index Services and Products Ltd, is made up of 50 stocks taken from 22 sectors. These stocks, according to NSE, represented over 57 per cent of the total market capitalisation as on December 29, 2006.
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Escorts Mutual to launch Gold ETF
Mumbai: Escorts Asset Management has filed for a Gold Exchange Traded fund with SEBI, an open-ended scheme, which will be listed on the exchange in the form of an exchange traded fund.

It aims to provide returns that before expenses closely correspond to the returns provided by domestic price of gold by investing predominantly in gold and gold related instruments.

The scheme will offer units of face value of Rs10 each and can be bought or sold like any other stock on the National Stock Exchange or any other exchange where it is listed. HDFC Bank will be the custodian for holding the gold.
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ING Vysya MF searches for amateur investors
Mumbai: ING Vysya Mutual Fund, along with CNBC Awaaz, has organised a reality show, `Indian Investor of the Year' on television to select India's best amateur investor.

Candidates can registered to play the online game on iiy.moneycontrol.com, from Jan 21 to Feb 5. They would be offered a notional amount of Rs5 lakh each to invest and build their portfolio. ING Vysya MF said it has received 8,000 applicants. The top 1,000 portfolios will be screened using various qualitative tests.

An eminent jury including Dhirendra Kumar of Value Research, will shortlist 200 candidates in six cities. There will be nine finalists who will have to manage a corpus of Rs10 crore each along with various constraints that come with the art of fund management. One participant will be eliminated at the end of each week and the contestant who proves his mettle will be the Indian Investor of the Year.

If the winner meets adequate qualifications, he will walk away with the job as a fund manager with ING Vysya and will also be sent for training to one of the global offices of the mutual fund.
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NSE revises F&O contract size
Chennai: The National Stock Exchange has revised the contract size for 64 securities in the derivative segment. The market lot of 52 securities has been revised downwards and that of 12 securities has been revised upwards. This revision will take effect from February 23 for companies (see table).

The lot size has been revised to meet SEBI guidelines, which prescribes a minimum value of Rs2 lakh for a contract.

Apart from Nifty and Bankex, contracts on Ashok Leyland, Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Gail (India), HCL Tech, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, i-flex Solutions, Infosys Technologies, IVRCL Infra, NDTV, NTPC, ONGC, PNB, Reliance, SBI, Sun Pharma and Tata Power were among others that saw their market lot size declining.

The market lot has been doubled for Bajaj Hindustan, Balrampur Chini, Cairn India, Chennai Petroleum, Colgate Palmolive, ITC, Shree Renuka Sugars, Tata Tea, Triveni Engg and Voltas.

With share prices running up very sharply for some stocks in the last few months, the Exchange reduced the lot size, making them once again in the trading reach of individual investors, Mr Kejriwal added.
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Raj TV IPO to open on 14 February
Mumbai: Raj Television Network will enter the capital market with an initial public offering of 35,68,250 equity shares with a face value of Rs10 each through a book building process. The IPO price band has been fixed between Rs221-257. Of the total issue, 3,24,384 equity shares have been set aside for employees and the net offer to the public is 32,43,866 equity shares. The issue opens on February 14 and closes on February 23.

Qualified institutional bidders will receive 50 per cent of the net offer, of which five per cent will be reserved for mutual funds, 15 per cent will be allocated to non institutional bidders and the retail bidders will get 35 per cent of the net offer on a proportionate basis.

The company recorded a net profit of Rs9.86 crore for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2006 and a total income of Rs29.5 crore.
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SGX leads in race for BSE stake
Mumbai: The Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) has come out in front for picking up a 5 per cent stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange ahead of its initial public offer in May.

Sebi has stipulated that a single investor can pick up a maximum of 5 per cent in an Indian stock exchange.

Sources said the Bombay Stock Exchange had received offers that valued the exchange at $600-800 million while the offer by SGX was on the higher side of this range.

Recently, the NYSE Group, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs and Softbank Asian Infrastructure Fund each acquired 5 per cent in the Bombay Stock Exchange's competitor, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), for a price that put the enterprise value of the exchange at $1.20 billion.

Other contenders for the Bombay Stock Exchange include the Deutsche bourse, NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange.

The Bombay Stock Exchange will also have to give shares to private equity players, for which Temasek, GIC and a German private equity player are in the running. The valuations they have offered are not yet known.
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Ruia makes open offers for Dunlop, Falcon
Kolkata: The Pawan Ruia group has come out with an open offer for Dunlop India and Falcon Tyres following the indirect acquisition of these two outfits from the Jumbo group in December 2005.

The group has announced an open offer for 20 per cent in Dunlop at Rs10 per share. The open offer for Falcon would be Rs151 per share.

The group has appointed Kolkata-based Microsec Capital as the manager to the offer. The group outfits Wealth Sea Pte and Manali Properties would spearhead the open offer which opens on March 24.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India had directed the Ruia group to make open offers for both the companies in November. The Sebi had said in its order that the indirect purchase of shares of Dunlop and Falcon in an overseas deal had violated the takeover code.
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Cambridge Technology debuts at premium
Mumbai: The shares of IT services company Cambridge Technology Enterprises listed at a premium of 28.68 per cent on the BSE at Rs48.90 as against the issue price of Rs38.

The stock touched an intra-day high of Rs108 and low of Rs48 before closing at Rs99.95. The stock made its debut on the NSE at a premium of 18.42 per cent at Rs45 and touched an intra-day high of Rs109.7.
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Indus Fila IPO band at Rs170-185
Mumbai: Indus Fila, an integrated textile company present in yarn dyeing, weaving, processing and apparel segments, proposes to enter the capital market with an initial public offering of 48.44 lakh equity shares of Rs10 each through a 100 per cent book building process.

The price band has been fixed at Rs170 to Rs185. The issue opens on February 12 and closes on February 14.

The proceeds will be used to part finance a Rs166.24-crore plan to expand capacities in weaving, yarn dyeing, processing and garments. A Rs74-crore term loan sanctioned under the TUF scheme and internal accruals will make up rest of the funds.

The company is also setting up a Centre of Excellence near Bangalore for product development and a design studio.
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PFC IPO price set at Rs85
New Delhi: Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has decided to set its initial public offering price at Rs85 per share. PFC's IPO, which closed on Tuesday, was subscribed 77.24 times.

Post issue, the Government's stake in the company will fall by 10.22 per cent. It currently owns 100 per cent of the company, which lends money to fund power projects in the country.
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Akruti Nirman debuts at 34.16 pc premium on NSE
Mumbai: The stock real estate development company Akruti Nirman opened at a premium of 34.16 per cent on the NSE at Rs724.45 against the offer price of Rs540.

The stock traded at an intra-day high at Rs730 and a low at Rs551.25 before settling at Rs563.45. The total traded quantity of shares on NSE was 85,73,402 equity shares.

The stock opened at a premium of 29.88 per cent on the BSE at Rs701.35. It peaked at Rs729 and hit a low at Rs552.35 before closing at Rs564. Total of 76,53,469 shares were traded on the BSE.
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