KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Mutual Bhd (AMB), the subsidiary of Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd, has launched a Islamic capital-protected fund, AMD Dana Aqeel, to take advantage of the current strong demand by investors for such products.

Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the syariah-compliant product is a closed-end fund of 3 million units of three years at a price of 50 sen per unit.

“The fund will invest at least 85% of its net asset value in locally-issued Islamic bonds (sukuk) while the remaining will be invested in a diversified portfolio of syariah-compliant equities for potential returns as well as cash equivalent instruments for liquidity purposes,” he said yesterday at the launch of the fund.

The fund is for individuals, corporates as well as local and foreign institutions and opened for subscription for 45 days beginning yesterday.

 
From left, International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman and Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid at the launch of AMB Dana Aqeel
“However, if the initial tranche is fully subscribed before the 45 days end, AMB has the option to issue more units subject to the authorities’ approval. The fund is benchmarked against the 12-month General Investment Accounts rates of commercial banks, currently at 2.74%,” he said.

PNB president and group chief executive and director of AMB Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman expressed confidence that AMB Dana Aqeel would be well received by investors who were keen to have an Islamic capital -protected fund in their investment portfolio.

“We did our homework well by talking to various investment managers and distributors on the kinds of funds that would appeal to most investors. At this juncture where many have suffered a setback from the world’s credit crisis, a transparent Islamic fund that protects the capital would be most suitable,” he said.

Individual investors are subjected to a minimum initial investment of RM1,000 while corporates and institutions must start at RM5,000.

There is no limit imposed on the number of units to be purchased. However, investors are subjected to a minimum balance of 1,000 units.

The minimum additional investment for individual investors is set at RM500 while that of corporates and institutions is set at RM1,000 and there will be also be a cooling-off period of six business days for qualified investors.

AMB Dana Aqeel is available at AMB’s headquarters at PNB Building in Jalan Tun Razak and all ASNB and Maybank branches nationwide.