Valuecap eyes up to RM7.5bil assets under management by year-end

KUALA LUMPUR: Fund manager, Valuecap Sdn Bhd, aims to expand the group's assets under management (AUM) to between RM7 billion and RM7.5 billion by year-end from the current RM5.2 billion.

The growth would come from existing products, the newly-launched MyETF SEA Islamic Dividend, as well as funds in the pipeline, said i-VCAP Management Sdn Bhd Chairman Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad.

As for i-VCAP, the target is to grow the AUM by 50 per cent from RM1.1 billion currently, he told reporters after the MyETF SEA Islamic Dividend's listing here today.

i-VCAP, a subsidiary of Valuecap, and the only asset manager offering Islamic exchange-traded funds in Malaysia, is jointly-owned by Khazanah Nasional, Permodalan Nasional Bhd and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan.

At the opening bell, the shariah compliant MyETF SEA Islamic Dividend made its debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia at RM1.005 a share, for a premium of half-a-sen, over its reference price of RM1.00. 

The company's listing is the world's first fully ASEAN Islamic ETF, which will track equities in markets including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. 

Commenting on the performance of its third fund, i-VCAP Chief Executive Officer Mahdzir Othman said the price was in line with the company's expectation. 

He said the response from the public was quite promising with about 10 billion units subscribed, compared to previous funds.

"This time around, we managed to get more investors to come in and subscribe. Hopefully, it's a good sign. But, by fund management's standards, is still not big enough. 

"This is something that we have to work on," he added.

He said educational activities to create awareness on the ETF among the public would continue to be undertaken.

Mahdzir also said the MyETF SEA Islamic Dividend fund has an indicative yield of around four per cent.
He added i-VCAP plans to launch its fourth ETF, an open-ended fund with the size of 500 million, by end-2015. - Bernama