Public Mutual, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia’s Public Bank, is launching a new Islamic fund – Public Islamic Savings Fund (PISVF) – today, which will invest in a diversified portfolio of primarily Shariah-compliant Malaysian stocks with the potential to offer attractive dividend yields.
Its investment focus will be on companies that have demonstrated consistency in rewarding their shareholders via dividend payouts, the company said. PISVF may also invest in Shariah-compliant growth or recovery stocks that have the potential to eventually adopt a dividend payout policy.
Public Mutual’s Chief Executive Officer Yeoh Kim Hong said the fund focuses its investments mainly in the domestic market. “The fund offers investors an opportunity to capitalise on Malaysia’s resilient economic growth prospects in the medium- to long-term. The performance of selected Shariah-compliant sectors of the Malaysian economy is expected to remain supported by sustained consumer and investment spending over the longer term,” she said.
Shariah compliant investing filters out businesses which engage in activities deemed unacceptable. These include alcohol, tobacco, armaments and pork; those that have a high debt-to-equity ratio must also be excluded from the investment universe.
Investors can participate in a diversified portfolio of Shariah-compliant blue chip stocks, growth stocks and fundamentally undervalued stocks which distribute or have the potential to distribute reasonably attractive dividends.
The company said due to the sharp retracement in equity markets at the end of the third quarter on concerns over the slowing pace of global economic growth and the European sovereign debt crisis, selected stocks listed on Bursa Malaysia are currently trading at below trend valuations and offer attractive investment opportunities for medium- to long-term investors.
To achieve increased diversification, the fund may also invest up to 30% of its net asset value (NAV) in selected foreign markets which include Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Luxembourg and other permitted markets.
The equity exposure of PISVF will generally range from 75% to 98% of its net asset value (NAV).
The initial issue price of PISVF is 0.25 Malaysian ringgit per unit during the 16-day initial offer period from December 15 to 30. The minimum initial investment is 1,000 ringgit (US$312.60) and the minimum additional investment is 100 ringgit.
Public Mutual is Malaysia’s largest private unit trust company with 91 funds under management. As at October 31, the company had total net asset under management of 43.7 billion ringgit.
