Baroda BNP Paribas Multi Asset Fund collects over Rs 1,200 crore via NFO

Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund started operations on March 14 as Baroda Asset Management Company and BNP Paribas Asset Management Company’s merger finally came through after more than two years.

Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund on December 22 said it has mobilised over Rs 1,234.72 crore assets under management (AUM) during the new fund offer (NFO) period of its multi-asset fund.

The NFO for Baroda BNP Paribas Multi Asset Fund was open from November 28 to December 12, 2022. The fund will reopen for subscriptions on December 26.

Baroda BNP Paribas Multi Asset Fund is an open-ended scheme investing in equity, debt and gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

This is the second new fund offering by Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt Ltd in the last nine months since the formation of the merged entity in March 2022.

Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund started operations on March 14 as Baroda Asset Management Company and BNP Paribas Asset Management Company’s merger finally came through after more than two years.

The Baroda BNP Paribas Multi Asset Fund invests in a mix of equity, fixed income, and gold ETF. “Equity aims to offer capital growth, fixed income could help to generate income and gold ETF aims to provide a hedge during global crisis/ inflation. The asset classes that the fund invests in have low correlation with each other, with this the fund aims to create an all-rounder portfolio that has the potential to perform across market cycles,” the fund house said in a note.

The scheme is benchmarked to 65 percent of the Nifty 500 total return index, 20 percent of the Nifty Composite Debt index and 15 percent of the rupee price of gold.

The scheme will have a 65-80 percent allocation to equity and equity-related instruments, 10-25 percent to debt and money market instruments, 10-25 percent to gold ETFs and 0-10 percent to units issued by real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).

Commenting on the NFO collections, Suresh Soni, chief executive officer, Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India, said, “The NFO has received wide participation from many investors and distribution partners across cities and towns. This comes on the back of the overwhelming response we received for our flexi-cap fund a few months ago. Multi-asset fund is a growing category, even though the existing category AUM is relatively modest at Rs 22,361 crore. We believe, Baroda BNP Paribas Multi Asset fund is a suitable investment option for investors, looking for long-term wealth creation and at the same time want to cushion their investments from volatile market situations.”

As per the data available with Valueresearchonline.com, multi-asset funds as a category have delivered 7.02 percent and 13.21 percent returns over the last one-year and three-year periods, respectively.

Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund in August had collected over Rs 1,400 crore from its flexi-cap scheme during the NFO period.

Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund is the 21st biggest AMC (asset management company) in India with an average AUM of Rs 22,895 crore at the end of the September quarter.