The fund, which was opened to investment last month, is managed by IDFC Asset Management Company a Mumbai based Indian investment specialist.
Natixis uses an affiliate model, where it chooses investment companies with specialist knowledge about a specific asset class or geography to manage funds on its behalf.
IDFC’s chief investment officer Kenneth Andrade is lead manager of the fund. Andrade also manages three other mutual funds for IDFC – Premier Equity Fund, Imperial Equity Fund and Sterling Equity Fund, which were launched in 2005, 2006 and 2008 respectively. As a company, IDFC also manages numerous domestic equity and bond funds as well as eight managed accounts.
The IDFC Indian Equities Fund saw its original inception in July last year with money seeded from Natixis and returned 13.65% over the period to the end of February. This compares well with its peers including arguably the most popular Indian equity fund the HSBC GIF Indian Equity Fund, which returned 16.02% but with a standard deviation almost double that of the IDFC fund, indicating a much higher level of risk.
According to a factsheet produced at the end of February, the fund is almost fully invested in equities with only 4.1% invested elsewhere, that being cash & cash equivalent assets.
The fund invests in a relatively concentrated portfolio of 40-50 stocks, targeting those companies operating at the very top of their respective sectors, although it has the flexibility to invest in stocks of any size.
