Bira fund investors up

JAKARTA (JP): PT Bira Aset Manajemen, which manages two open- end mutual funds Bira DanaSaham and Bira DanaObligasi, has gained about 500 new investors in the last two months to increase the number of investors to 1,261.

The company said in a statement yesterday that about 600 retail investors had invested in the company's Bira DanaSaham, while Bira DanaObligasi attracted mostly institutional and corporate investors.

The company's head of management investment Howard Chu was optimistic that the country's strong economic growth would ensure the steady growth of mutual funds in the country despite its infant stage of development.

"The future prospect of mutual funds is promising since only less than 0.1 percent of the country's population has invested in the mutual funds so far," he said in a statement. (aly)