BDNI to launch mutual fund

BDNI to launch mutual fund

JAKARTA (JP): The Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam)
granted a license yesterday to the country's first open-end
mutual fund, which will be called the Reksa Dana Money Market
Fund (MMF) and sponsored by Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia and PT
BDNI Securities.

Reksa Dana MMF will offer 500 million shares to be priced at
Rp 1,000 (42 U.S. cents) each starting July 5. The share price
will be adjusted on a daily basis according to the fund's net
asset value.

A Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia director, R.M. Hariandja,
said that BDNI Securities has been appointed as fund manager and
ABN AMRO Bank as the custodian bank.

Hariandja said that total funds collected by Reksa Dana MMF
will be invested in fixed income instruments including time
deposits, bank savings, Bank Indonesia certificates, commercial
papers and debt instruments which have a maturity of a maximum of
two years.

A director at BDNI Securities, Lid da Lopez, said that the
minimum initial order is set at 500 shares worth Rp 500,000.

Commenting on the fund's investment policy, Hariandja said
that in addition to the business motive, the establishment of
Reksa Dana MMF also has an education mission.

"We want to offer a safe investment to investors, which is
possible because the money market offers a fixed return," Lopez
said.

"Later, we may also set up other funds which operate in the
equity market," he added.

Meanwhile, Bapepam's chairman, I Putu Gede Ary Suta, hailed
the establishment of Reksa Dana MMF. He asked the fund's
management to expand its distribution network, because, he said,
the mission of a mutual fund is to expand the capital market's
retail investor base.

Lopez said the new fund will handle distribution through
BDNI's more than 50 outlets throughout country.

Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia is the founder of Indonesia's
first and only closed-end mutual fund -- PT BDNI Reksa Dana --
which manages approximately Rp 350 billion in funds and is listed
on the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Unlike the closed-end fund, the open-end mutual fund is not
listed on a stock exchange and it, therefore, must buy back the
shares on a demand basis. (alo)