Press Release
VIS Upgrades Fund Stability Rating of ABL Income Fund
Karachi, December 31, 2020: VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) has upgraded the Fund Stability Rating (FSR) of ABL Income Fund (ABL IF) to ‘A+ (f)’ (Single A plus (f)) from ‘A (f)’ (Single A (f)). The previous rating action was announced on January 20, 2020.
The rating action incorporates updated FUND STBILITY RATING methodology which can be found on our website https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/backupsqlvis/docs/FundstabilityRating.pdf for
reference.
ABL-IF is an open-end income fund launched in September 2008. The fund’s objective is to earn a superior risk adjusted rate of return by investing in a blend of short, medium and long term instruments, both within and outside Pakistan.
At end-June’20, net assets of the fund declined to Rs. 1.5b (FY19: Rs. 1.7b). As per the fund’s IPS, at least a quarter of the fund’s assets must be deployed in cash while other investment avenues comprise TFCs and sovereign instruments. The fund’s asset allocation plan primarily comprised government securities and TFCs while more than a quarter of the fund’s portfolio consisted of cash on average basis. Credit quality exposures remained in line with the requisites of VIS’s criteria for the assigned ratings. WAM of the fund is capped at 4 years and target duration of the fund has been capped at 1 year for which the fund remained compliant throughout the period. Portfolio contribution by retail investors increased and associates declined at end-FY20 as compared to the preceding year.
For further information on this rating announcement, please contact Ms. Asfia Aziz or the undersigned (Ext. 301) at 021-35311861-70 or email at info@vis.com.pk.
Faheem Ahmad
President & CEO
Applicable Rating Criteria: Fund Stability Ratings (December 2020)
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/backupsqlvis/docs/FundstabilityRating.pdf