Press Release
JCR-VIS Assigns Fund Stability Rating of A(f) to HBL Income Fund
Karachi, June 17, 2009: JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Ltd. (JCR-VIS) has assigned Fund Stability Rating of A(f) (Single A (f)) to HBL Income fund (HIF).
Launched in March 2007, HIF is managed by HBL Asset Management Limited. The fund aims to provide investors a stable stream of income with a moderate level of risk by investing in fixed income instruments. While investment policy as defined under the Offering Document is very liberal, the management company has adopted a more conservative approach in managing the overall risk profile of the fund, which is guided by an internally approved policy document.
Over the past few months, the fund has restricted exposure to the NBFCs sector while also limiting exposure to highly rated banks in case of Term Deposit Receipts. Earlier, the fund could also invest in ready-future spread transactions, though given recent events on the stock market, the fund will be avoiding investment in RFS transactions that would otherwise expose the fund’s NAV to price swings. Exposure to TFCs is considerable in relation to net assets currently; having enhanced on account of reduction in net assets, though overall asset mix is proposed to be rationalized in line with unit-holder mix, going forward. More recently, the fund has also assumed short term exposure in T-bills which has improved the overall credit risk profile of the fund.
Unit holding pattern, though considerably concentrated, has shown improvement in recent months. The management company is making efforts towards mobilizing investment from the retail segment. The benefits accruing from the extensive outreach of the parent bank in terms of achieving greater degree of dispersion in unit-holding pattern would be tracked over time.
For further information on this rating announcement, please contact Ms. Sabeen Saleem (Ext: 510) or Ms. Sobia Maqbool (Ext: 506) at 5311861-70 (10 lines) or fax to 5311872-3.
Faheem Ahmad
President & CEO