Sandhani’s mutual fund gets BSEC nod

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) yesterday approved Sandhani Asset Management SLIC Fixed Income Fund, an open-ended mutual fund.

Mutual funds pool money from investors to channel it into securities such as stocks and bonds and distribute the profits among investors.

Open-ended mutual funds are not listed with stock markets. Investors can buy them from a fund manager's office on the basis of their net asset value.

The approval came at a meeting of the commission at its office in the capital.

The size of the fund could be raised up to Tk 50 crore. Of the Tk 50 crore, Tk 10 crore was provided by its sponsor, Sandhani Life Insurance. The rest can be raised from general investors.

The price of each unit of the mutual fund is Tk 10.

Sandhani Asset Management, Bangladesh General Insurance and Brac Bank are, respectively, the asset manager, trustee and custodian of the fund.

Mir Ariful Islam, managing director of Sandhani Asset Management, said a minimum 30 per cent of the fund would be invested in fixed-income securities.

"An important feature is it is the most tax-friendly fund as it is a non-dividend fund. No tax on the dividends will be imposed," he said, adding that investors will make profits when they sell units.