Bahana launched two mutual funds

JAKARTA (JP): Bahana TCW Investment Management launched two open-end mutual funds --- Bahana Dana Selaras (BDS) and Bahana Dana Infrastruktur (BDI) --- yesterday on the domestic market.

Bahana's spokesperson Bowo W Rahardjo said the BDI and BDS funds would each offer one billion units and expected to raise Rp 1 trillion (US$416.66 million) respectively.

He said the BDS fund had raised about Rp 78.5 billion from sponsors and the BDI fund about Rp 35 billion from different sponsors.

BDS sponsors include state-owned PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia and the pension funds of several other state companies including PT Aneka Tambang, Bank Negara Indonesia, PT Krakatau Steel, state-electricity PLN, PT Pos Indonesia and PT Pelabuhan Indonesia I.

BDI fund sponsors are PT Bahana Pembangunan Usaha Indonesia and the pension funds of several state firms including Bank Indonesia, Krakatau Steel, PT Asuransi Jiwasraya, Asuransi Jasa Tania and Indolife Pensiontama.

Bowo said BDS and BDI would be invested in mixed investment instruments.

He said 50 percent of the BDS fund would be invested in equity, 45 percent in bonds and 5 percent in money market instruments.

About 70 percent of the BDI fund would be invested in equity, 25 percent in bonds and 5 percent in money market instruments, he said.

Bahana's statement said the initial minimum investment for each fund would be Rp 100,000 while the maximum investment would be Rp 10 billion.

"The Rp 10 billion is equivalent to one percent of the total funds to be collected," Bowo said.

He said the two funds' selling fee would be one percent while the redemption fee would range 0.0 percent to 1.5 percent.

"If investors sell their units within a year, the redemption fee is 1.5 percent," he said, adding that if investors sold after a year, they would be exempted from the redemption fee.

PT Bahana TCW Investment Company is a joint venture company of state-owned PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia and TCW Capital Investment Corporation of the United States.

The firm had managed funds of Rp 550 billion as of the end of April 1997.

With the new open-end funds on offer, Bahana TCW has managed four open-end mutual funds including Bahana Dana Abadi and Bahana Dana Prima which were launched last year. (09)