Gaining from Acquisition

The erstwhile Lotus India Mutual fund that was launched in 2006. During the peak of the global financial crisis in 2008, Lotus was the one casualty which was bought by the Religare group in November 2008. More recently, in September 2012, US-based Invesco, a leading global player in the mutual fund industry, picked up a 49 per cent stake in Religare Asset Management Company. Today, the scale achieved by this asset managment company is largely from the stable of funds that it got from its Lotus acquisition. The AMC has a complete range equity and fixed income funds in its portfolio. However, the offerings haven’t really shown any outstanding performance till now, which leaves a lot of room for improvement for this AMC.

Some of the equity funds from this AMC such as Religare Mid N Small Cap, Religare AGILE and Religare Tax Plan, have done well, while several others have just been also-rans with nothing much to write about as far as their performance goes. When it comes to the debt schemes of the AMC, the portfolio has a wide variety of schemes, with some good performing ultra short-term funds. Overall, the addition of a new foreign partner Invesco could benefit and enhance fund management practices. Since the partnership has come to fruition just recently, it is still early days.

This article was originally published on December 31, 2012.