AIMS of Bangladesh Limited has submitted an action plan to the capital market regulator for the possible conversion or windup of two close-ended mutual funds it manages as the tenure of the mutual funds will end in June 30 this year, AIMS of Bangladesh managing director Yawer Sayeed told New Age on Monday. The AIMS-managed two mutual funds are AIMS First Guaranteed Mutual Fund formed in 2000 and Grameen One: First Scheme of Grameen Mutual Fund One formed in 2005.
The proposal was submitted on Sunday following a meeting with senior officials of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission in this regard, he said.
AIMS of Bangladesh also highlighted several drawbacks in the existing legal framework that need to be addressed by the commission, he said.
The proposed action plan sought full ten-year trade continuity of the units of the mutual funds at the stock exchanges till June 30 this year instead of the existing legal binding of trade suspension before three months of the tenure expiry.
It is the duty of the asset management company to ensure unit holders’ rights to get dividends after a year ending, he said.
‘The unit holders are entitled to receive the annual dividend at the end of the normal accounting period during the last year of operation and any one should not be deprived of such rights under any circumstances,’ the proposal said.
The issue of dividend disbursement is irrelevant in the case of tenure expiry of close-ended mutual funds, a senior BSEC official told New Age.
Unit holders will get the net asset value on per unit return once they will decide for windup of the mutual funds.
On the other hand, in case of conversion to open-ended mutual fund from the close-ended ones, unit holders will get certificates of units which will be tradable over the counter, he said.
Earlier in 2014, AIMS of Bangladesh for its two mutual funds sought BSEC permission to extend tenure by 10 years.
In September last year, the commission rejected time-extension proposal made by AIMS of Bangladesh.
‘After the rejection, we have filed an application with the BSEC seeking equal treatment from the commission,’ Sayeed said.
‘As the commission is scrutinising an Investment Corporation of Bangladesh’s plea for allowing fresh ten-year tenure for eight close-ended mutual funds the ICB manages, we have also requested the commission not to make any discrimination in this regard,’ he said.
The commission last year asked the ICB to convert or windup the eight mutual funds in phases.
-With New Age input
