Altiva SIF: Edelweiss enters SEBI's new fund space

Nearly three months after SEBI introduced guidelines for Specialised Investment Funds (SIFs), Edelweiss Mutual Fund has stepped into the arena with the launch of its new brand identity—Altiva SIF.

This move marks Edelweiss's foray into a space that aims to offer the best of both worlds: the structure and transparency of mutual funds combined with the flexibility of Portfolio Management Services (PMS). Under SEBI's framework, SIFs are allowed to adopt a range of strategies, and the minimum investment amount is at least Rs 10 lakh.

What Edelweiss plans under Altiva SIF

While still in the early stages, Edelweiss has hinted at one of its first offerings—a hybrid long-short strategy.

"We aim to position this offering somewhere between an arbitrage fund and a hybrid equity mutual fund," said Niranjan Avasthi, Senior Vice President at Edelweiss MF. "It will be an income-oriented strategy with moderate risk." He added that the firm is currently in the process of filing the offer document with SEBI.

Strategies under SIF

SEBI has approved seven distinct strategies under SIFs, divided across three broad categories:

• Equity strategies
  
• Equity long-short fund
  
• Equity ex-top 100 long-short fund
  
• Sector rotation long-short fund
  
• Debt strategies
  
• Debt long-short fund
  
• Sector long-short fund
  
• Hybrid strategies
  
• Active asset allocator long-short fund
  
• Hybrid long-short fund

SIFs can take exposure in permissible exchange-traded derivatives for up to 25 per cent of their net assets, not just for hedging and portfolio rebalancing but also for broader investment purposes.

Taxation

One of the biggest advantages of SIFs over Category III Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) lies in the tax treatment.

"SIFs will be treated similarly to mutual funds," Avasthi noted. "No tax at the fund level."

This makes SIFs particularly attractive for investors looking for sophisticated strategies without the heavy tax burden often associated with AIFs.

Also read: SEBI loosens the screws on SIFs