Fund launch: Mirae Asset Corporate Bond Fund

Adding a new member to its debt portfolio, Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) on February 24, 2021 announced the launch of ‘Mirae Asset Corporate Bond Fund’. The new fund offer (NFO) is now open for subscription and would remain open till March 9, 2021. 

The scheme is an open-ended debt mutual fund that seeks to predominantly invest in AA+ and above rated corporate bonds with some exposure to government securities and T-Bills. Depending upon the interest rate outlook, even though the fund would be investing across the yield curve, it seeks to maintain the target modified duration within the range of 2-5 years. Further, the fund will be following active portfolio management based on a flexible interest rate strategy. As of now, the focus of the fund is to create a high-quality portfolio, and hence, it would not prefer investing in AA and below-rated papers and perpetual bonds. Having said, the fund, benchmarked against Nifty Corporate Bond Index, would be managed by Mahendra Jajoo. 

Swarup Mohanty, CEO, Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) Pvt Ltd said, “In the present environment, investors are looking for both returns and liquidity in their portfolios. Mirae Asset Corporate Bond Fund aims to generate income with moderate risk while remaining focussed on high quality and liquidity. Since investments will be in the corporate papers, the focus will be on our risk management process. Mirae Asset, due to its strong credit process, was not exposed to the most stressed asset cases, while endeavour will be to provide a stable investment experience to our investors. This fund is suitable for investors looking for an investment horizon of over 3 years and we believe that investors can look at SIP way of investments in this fund.” 

Speaking about corporate bond funds, Mahendra Jajoo, CIO – Fixed Income, Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) Pvt Ltd added, “The AAA bond yield curve has steepened during the year. Credit spreads are tightening, and current yields present attractive investment opportunities in the AAA bond segment. The short-term average yields are above their long-term average. This indicates that spreads are still attractive to take advantage. The benefit of improving rating prospects for high-quality corporates in an improving economy and likely widening of spreads with higher credit pick up in the coming months may provide investors, a good entry point to invest in Corporate Bond Funds with a 3-year time horizon.” 

Funds managed/co-managed by Mahendra Jajoo