AmInvestment to launch 3 funds

KUALA LUMPUR: AmInvestment Bank Group will launch three funds, a mixture of equity and fixed income over the next six months, its Head of Institutional Unit Trust Advisors, Fund Management, Wendy Wong Huey Yen said today.

Wong said the financial group had launched 10 funds to date this year.

"We now have a total of 72 funds of which 50 per cent are in-house managed. The total assets under management is currently at RM30.13 billion," she told a media briefing here today.

She said of this, RM5 billion is in equities, with RM120 million in real estate investment trusts (REITs).

Wong said the new funds will be about 100 to 200 million units in terms of initial fund size.

Meanwhile, commenting on the performance of the company's Asia Pacific REITs, its Chief Investment Officer, Equity, Asset Allocation, Funds Management Andrew Wong said it had been quite good with the fund appreciating 20.8 per cent in terms of returns.

In respect of REITs, he said the group will strongly look into properties in Japan as well as the upcoming listing of IGB REIT.

IGB, a property developer, also operates hotels and manages office buildings to obtain a recurring income.

The listing of IGB REIT, expected to be next month, will see about 3.4 billion units issued under the exercise for two malls valued at RM4.6 billion.

As for Malaysia's REIT, Wong said the group remained favourable to retail REITs, due to an increase in capital appreciation while being neutral on office REITs following a market oversupply. -- BERNAMA