Press Release

VIS Upgrades Fund Stability Rating of Askari Sovereign Yield Enhancer

Karachi, December 31, 2020: VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) has upgraded Fund Stability Rating of Askari Sovereign Yield Enhancer (ASYE) to ‘AA- (f))’ (Double A minus (f)) from ‘A+ (f)’ (Single A Plus (f)). The previous rating action was announced November 26, 2019.

The rating action incorporates updated FUND STBILITY RATING methodology which can be found on our website for reference.

ASYE is an income fund designed to generate relatively higher yields as compared to conventional bank placements, from a portfolio of sovereign and money market instruments. The fund’s IPS restricts minimum 70% exposure in government securities and minimum 10% in cash placements. At end-June’20, sizeable portion of the fund’s asset base was deployed in T-bills and PIBs while approximately 4% remained in cash. Average asset allocation of the fund (based on month-end averages) constitutes allocation in T-bills with remaining in cash, PIBs and Ijarah Sukuk. In order to minimize market and price risk due to any adverse movement in discount rate, weighted average maturity (WAM) of the fund is capped at 4 years and target duration of the fund is 3 years (with time to maturity of any single asset in the portfolio not exceeding 10 years). Maximum WAM and duration were reported at 4.42 and 2.28 year(s) at Apr’20 and Jun’20 respectively. The fund remained compliant with VIS benchmarks (on average basis) where investments in instruments rated AAA amounted to 75% issue/issuer.

Net assets of the fund witnessed a gradual upward trend as compared to the preceding year amounting to Rs. 242.2mn at end-Jun’20. Highest growth in the fund’s size was reported at end-Apr’20 closing at 273.9mn, top 10 investors constituted around 93% of total net AUMs at end-Jun’20.

For further information on this rating announcement, please contact Mr. Muhammad Tabish (Ext: 204) or the undersigned (Ext: 301) at 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

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 2020 VIS Credit Rating Company Limited . All rights reserved. Contents may be used by news media with credit to VIS .