Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund registers 520% growth
Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund registers 520% growth in seven years (Past performance may or may not be sustained in the future)
Tweet-- Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund has been one of the leading performer across market cycles which include surging bull market, crashing bear market and a fledgling new rally. The open-ended growth scheme looks for steady and consistent growth from investments especially in today’s ever-changing environment. It has been among the best performers in the diversified equity fund category over past 3 years with CAGR returns of 18% versus 11% from BSE200 Index, as on 30th June. The fund has declared a total dividend of 240% since inception. That is 6 dividends in 7 years.
Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund’s performance is attributable to dynamic sectoral allocation in the portfolio, stock selection and timely market calls. In the recent past, the fund house reduced its level of cash holdings from 15-20% to 6-7% by progressively increasing the allocation.
Mr. Mahesh Patil, Co-Head Equity, BSLMF said, “Weak prices have given us the opportunity to buy some new holdings and to add to existing positions at rock bottom prices…We have added to our positions in cyclical stocks which were heavily beaten down and available at historically cheap valuations”.
“We were early movers into Infrastructure & Capital Goods stocks which have now become market favorites…Another significant bet have been on the financial sector, which is benefiting from a crash in short-term interest rates and a steep upward sloping yield curve. We increased our position from underweight to significant overweight in this sector”, Mr. Mahesh Patil said.” Overall, our strategy of not betting blindly on defensives early on and maintaining cash levels helped us to build positions aggressively” he added.
Sectoral diversification is key to stable growth. Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund invests in approximately the same proportion as the sectors in the BSE 200, thus giving each sector its due importance and thereby keeping investor's money invested across promising sectors at any given time. This discipline also reduces over dependence on a particular sector, giving stability to investor's portfolio. The fund manager is not limited in choosing companies across market capitalization. Thus the fund helps investor benefit out of the positive trends and opportunities across sectors and market caps.
Some interesting facts about Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund –
1. Had you invested Rs. 1 Lac in this fund on its inception date (7 yrs ago i.e. 30 Aug 2002) , it would have been worth Rs. 6.2 Lakh on 30 Jun 09
That translates to 30.7% CAGR Returns. The benchmark BSE 200 would have made you Rs. 4.8 Lakh only
2. The fund has declared a total of 240% since inception.
Had you invested Rs. 1 Lakh on inception, you would have got Rs. 2.4 Lakh on Tax-free dividends alone!
3. As a testimony of its consistent performance , 83% of times, the fund has beaten the benchmark (BSE 200) in 1 year rolling returns
The performance of BSL Frontline Equity Fund has been recognized by external agencies as well. Following are the ratings enjoyed by BSL Frontline Equity Fund -CRISIL CPR 1 as on 31st March, 4 Star Value Research Rating as on 30th June and 5 Star award by ICRA for 1 & 3 Year Performance as on 31st December.
Notes to Editor
Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company
Established in 1994, Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company (BSLAMC) is a joint venture between Aditya Birla Group, a well known and trusted name globally amongst Indian conglomerates and Sun Life Financial Inc, leading international financial services organization from Canada.
BSLAMC is amongst the top 5 asset management companies in India with an average asset under management of Rs 47096 crores as on March 31, 2009 and a market share of 9.5%. An impressive mix of reach through 116 branches, full range of product offerings across equity, debt, balanced & structured asset classes and strong investment performance has helped the Company enjoy trust of over 2.15 Million investors. Known for its consistent performance, BSLAMC, has received recognition from various institutes of international repute like the CRISIL, Asian investor Magazine, ICRA and Lipper. It is the only fund house in India to have won the coveted “Mutual Fund House of the Year” from CNBC TV 18 Crisil twice in a row.
About Aditya Birla Group:
A US $29.2 billion corporation, the Aditya Birla Group is in the league of Fortune 500 worldwide. It is anchored by an extraordinary force of 100,000 employees, belonging to 25 different nationalities. The group operates in 25 countries across six continents – truly India's first multinational corporation.
Aditya Birla Group through Aditya Birla Financial Services Group (ABFSG), has a strong presence across various financial services verticals that include life insurance, fund management, distribution & wealth management, securities based lending, insurance broking, private equity and retail broking. In FY 2008-09, the consolidated revenues of ABFSG from these businesses crossed Rs. 4763 crores, registering a growth rate of 36%.
About Sun Life Financial Inc.:
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services. Chartered in 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide. As of December 31, 2008, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $381 billion globally.