Garuda Satu mutual fund to target retail investors

Garuda Satu mutual fund to target retail investors

JAKARTA (JP): Gunawan Jusuf, the managing director of PT
Makindo Securities, said Saturday he was upbeat the Garuda Satu
mutual fund would attract individual investors.

He said that the open-end mutual fund launched by Makindo's
subsidiary PT Intru Nusantara, was designed to tap retail
investors.

Gunawan said the Garuda Satu fund was expected to generate
around Rp 1 trillion (US$422 million) from the public in two
years and so far PT Intru Nusantara, the fund's management
company, had collected around Rp 220 billion from the public.

Around 95 percent of investors in Garuda Satu were retail
investors and the remaining 5 percent were institutions.

"We really want 99 percent of investors to be retail
investors," he said.

Agus Dharma, president of PT Intru Nusa, said around 75
percent of Garuda Satu would be invested in fixed income
instruments and 25 percent in equity.

Mutual funds are often more attractive to retail investors as
they are less risky than equity investments.

"The investors do not need to think about how to manage the
investment because the fund managers will take care of it," said
an analyst from a joint venture securities firm.

In addition, most mutual funds in Indonesia invest the bulk of
their funds in fixed income securities such as bonds and
certificates of deposit.

Fixed income instruments are generally the most preferred
investment instruments for their relatively high returns.

Of the current total of Rp 3.4 trillion funds managed by the
management companies here, around 80 percent are invested in
fixed income instrument and 20 percent in stocks, he said. (09)