Karachi, December 15, 2008: JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited has assigned Management Quality Rating of‘AM3’ (AM-Three) to ABL Funds Company Limited (ABL Funds), which denotes ‘good management quality’.
ABL Funds is a wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Bank Limited. The company has only recently started operations amidst a challenging environment when assets under management of existing companies have experienced a sharp downward trend. ABL Funds has launched its first fund, which is an income fund, and plans to enhance its product offering going forward.
The company has been set up with a capital of Rs. 500m enabling it to put in place the requisite support infrastructure. Themanagement has placed focus upon developing manuals for all operational and support functions. Qualified personnel occupy key positions in the company and an in-house research function has also been established. The distribution philosophy of the company on the retail side focuses on leveraging on the branch network of the parent bank and other third party sources. In addition, in-house sales team will be mobilizing corporate sales.
JCR-VIS has assigned Fund Stability Rating of ‘A(f)’ (Single A (f)) to ABL Income Fund. The objective of the fund is toearn a superior risk adjusted rate of return by investing in a blend of short, medium and long term instruments. The fund’s portfolio is currently limited to exposures in TDRs, cash and bank balances and money market placements. The fund currently has no exposure in TFCs or CFS but may take limited exposure in these avenues going forward, depending on market opportunities. Given the current portfolio composition, both credit and price risks are considered manageable.Unit-holding pattern however features considerable concentration.
Investment decisions are routed through an Investment Committee comprising key management personnel. An IC also exists at the Board level to decide on the broad policy objectives.
For further information on this rating announcement, please contact Ms. Sabeen Saleem (Ext: 510) or Ms. Sobia Maqbool (Ext: 506) at 5311861-70 or fax to 5311873.
Syed Ziauddin Ahmed
Advisor
