Press Release

VIS Upgrades Fund Stability Rating of Meezan Sovereign Fund

Karachi, January 12, 2021: VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) has upgraded the Fund Stability Rating (FSR) of Meezan Sovereign Fund (MSF) to ‘AA (f)’ (Double A (f)) from ‘AA-(f)’ (Double AA Minus (f)). The previous rating action was announced on December 30, 2019.

The rating action incorporates updated ‘FUND STABILITY RATING’ methodology which can be found on our website or on the following link
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/backupsqlvis/docs/FundstabilityRating.pdf.

MSF is an open ended Shariah compliant sovereign fund designed to offer competitive returns to investors through deploying resources primarily in government backed Shariah compliant debt securities. Fund’s duration is capped at 180 days while exposures can only be taken in AA- and above rated investment avenues. As at end-November 2020, MSF’s net assets stood at Rs. 8.7b (FY20: Rs. 9.7b; FY19: Rs. 5.7b).

The upgrade also incorporates exposures currently remaining compliant with credit quality stipulations. Given that minimum 70% of net assets are required to be invested in sovereign exposures, the fund has majorly complied with the credit quality requisites for the assigned ratings. Maximum duration during the review period was reported at 88 days in May’20 which is below the limit of 180 days as per policy and criteria for AA - rated fund.

For further information on this rating announcement, please contact Mr. Arsal Ayub (Ext: 216) or the undersigned (Ext: 306) at (021) 35311861-66 or email at info@vis.com.pk.


Faryal Ahmed Faheem
Deputy CEO




Applicable Rating Criteria: Fund Stability Ratings (Dec 2020) https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/backupsqlvis/docs/FundstabilityRating.pdf

Information herein was obtained from sources believed to be accurate and reliable; however, VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information.VIS , the analysts involved in the rating process and members of its rating committee do not have any conflict of interest relating to the rating(s)/ranking(s) mentioned in this report.VIS is paid a fee for most rating assignments. This rating/ranking is an opinion and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Copyright 2021 VIS Credit Rating Company Limited . All rights reserved. Contents may be used by news media with credit to VIS .