Fidelity International has announced the launch of its Fidelity Wealth Builder Fund, an open ended fund of funds scheme offering asset allocation options with three Plans, in the Indian market.

The investment objective of the fund is to generate reasonable returns based on the Plan selected with minimum and maximum asset allocation between debt and equity.

The company stated in a press release that the fund manager will use a two-tier investment approach i. e. asset allocation and fund selection to invest in Fidelity's funds.

Assets under management (AUMs) of Indian mutual funds have shown an increase of 4 per cent in December 2008. AUM had been declining since last three months according to the data released by the AMFI. The growth is caused following good performance of income funds. AUM of the mutual fund industry stands at Rs 4,18,336 crore as on December end as compared to Rs 4,02,029 crore in November 2008.

India's oldest mutual fund, UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC) is in advanced stages of discussions to divest 26 per cent to a strategic partner. The potential buyers are the US firm T Rowe Price, Shinsei Bank of Japan and two European firms. The buyer is expected to pay between Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,800 crore, which would value the AMC at between Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 7,500 crore.

A majority of the debt fund schemes have single industry exposure in India which is a cause for concern for multidimensional investments. Single company or segment exposure of funds can be affected by redemption pressures. It is said by the rating agency, Crisil in its recent release.  

Assets under management (AUM) of mutual fund industry continued to decline for the third consecutive month. It has declined 7 per cent in November as compared to its level in October. Total assets currently stood at Rs 4,02,029 crore and it has seen second-highest monthly decline in a month.

All leading fund houses have seen asset decline, excluding UTI and Tata Asset Management. Mirae Asset Management has lost more than 69% of its AUM so far. CEO of Mirae Asset, Arindam Ghosh said that the company has seen very low investment in the equity funds.

In a formal announcement, one of the leading financial services groups of India, Religare Enterprises (REL), confirmed that it has agreed to acquire Lotus India asset management company (Lotus India AMC) from its majority shareholders - Alexandra Fund Management and Sabre Capital.

Informing the Bombay Stock Exchange of the intended proceedings, REL said that its board of directors has approved a proposal to discuss, negotiate and finalize the terms for acquiring 100 per cent or majority equity shareholding of Lotus.