Press Release
AmInvestment Group Selected To Manage ABF Malaysian Bond Index Fund
(for release on 12 May 2005)
AmInvestment Group announced today that its funds management arm, AmInvestment Management Sdn Bhd, has been selected and appointed to manage the ABF Malaysian Bond Index Fund (ABFM). AmInvestment Group is an experienced leader in funds management with RM 7.8 billion funds under management as of 30 April 2005; out of which RM 5.5 billion is in fixed income, making AmInvestment Group the largest fixed income fund manager in Malaysia.
ABFM is the Malaysian single market fund of the Asian Bond Fund 2 (ABF2); the other seven single market funds are from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
ABF 2 is initially funded by the EMEAP (Executives’ Meeting of East Asia and Pacific Central Bank Group) and has allocated USD 1 billion among the 8 country funds. Another USD1 billion is allocated to the ABF Pan Asia Index Fund (PAIF). EMEAP aims to develop the Asian bond markets by improving the demand for domestic bonds and to enhance the capital market infrastructure. In total, EMEAP is seeding USD 2 billion for ABF2 and a total of 9 funds; eight single market funds and PAIF.
AmInvestment Group as the fund manager of ABFM, is working closely with the relevant authorities to offer the fund to the Malaysian public and private investors, through a targeted listing in the middle of the year. “As an active player in the Malaysian bond and capital markets, AmInvestment Group is both honoured and pleased to be selected to manage this fund; to widen and deepen the Malaysian investor base”, said Mr Kok Tuck Cheong, Director of AmInvestment Group. “The fund will be passively managed against its given benchmark set by International Index Company (IIC) and its returns will be expected to correspond closely to the performance of the index”, he added.
AmInvestment Group has been in the forefront of the Malaysian financial services industry, having been in operations in the last 30 years and is focused on the delivery of three core investment banking activities, namely funds management, merchant banking and stock broking. Among its recent accolades and achievements, AmInvestment Group won the Best Malaysian Bond House award in 2004 by FinanceAsia and the 2004 IFR Asia Awards Malaysia Bond Deal of the Year, the first issue by a supranational issuer (Asian Development Bank) in the Malaysian market.