New mutual funds enter market

MANILA, Philippines - The Soldivo Bond Fund (SBF) and the Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund (SSGF) will officially go on stream tomorrow, offering Filipino individual investors more options to grow their wealth.

The two Soldivo funds, which got the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) early this year, are co-sponsored by Kaiser International Healthgroup Inc. and Inc. (RFI).

Minimum initial investment for both funds is P5,000.

Rampver Strategic Advisors (RSA) vice president Janice Marie P. Fernando said what makes it more exciting is the fact that the funds’ net asset value (NAVs) is still below below P1 upon inception. RSA is a distribution and advisory arm of RFI.

“So the earlier you invest the bigger the potential for higher earnings,” Fernando admitted.

The fund management team for the two mutual funds is the Philam Asset Management Inc., a subsidiary of the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life). Custodian bank is Deutsche Bank.

The SBF is a peso-denominated bond fund and a good alternative to traditional savings accounts. It is invested in fixed income securities including treasury bills or notes, and other government securities (GS) or bonds or other evidences of indebtedness fully guaranteed by the Republic of the Philippines, as well as savings or time deposits with government-owned or private banks.

Likewise, the fund’s fixed-income portfolio will be invested in SEC registered corporate debt papers subject to at least PRS2 credit rating by the Philippine Ratings Services, savings or time deposits, and other deposit substitutes, preferred shares, and convertibles.

An adequate portion of the portfolio will be invested in cash or near cash assets to ensure that redemptions will be adequately and immediately serviced.

SSGF is categorized as a peso-denominated stock (or equity) fund, and is best fit for investors with medium to long-term investment horizon.

Aside from blue chip and second liner stocks, Soldivo’s fund manager can look into derivatives and other structured funds.

“That allows our fund managers a wider investment universe to expand the fund’s growth potential,” Fernando added.

There are currently 48 registered mutual funds in the Philippines, of which 10 are peso-denominated bond funds and nine are peso-denominated stock funds.