A hybrid fund that ensures growth and stability of returns in the long run.

HSBC Equity Hybrid Fund (HEHF), an open-ended scheme is a new addition to the stable of HSBC Mutual Fund that will invest a dominant portion of its assets in equity & equity related securities and the remaining in debt & money market instruments in the endeavour to accomplish the set-out investment objective.

The equity investments would not be restricted to any one of the market capitalisation segments. So, in that sense, HEHF has the flexibility. 

Risk-Return Positioning of HEHF

(Source: HSBC Hybrid Equity Fund Presentation)

Since the asset allocation of HEHF is largely bent towards equities, from a risk-return standpoint it is a high risk-high return investment proposition, even as the focus would be to hold a diversified portfolio of robust companies, reflecting most attractive investment ideas, at all points of time.

Thus, HSBC Equity Hybrid Fund is suited for investors with a high-risk appetite, who have an investment time horizon of at least 5 years, and whose investment objective is capital appreciation over the long run. 

Table 1: NFO Details

NFO Details of HSBC Equity Hybrid Fund:
Type	An open-ended hybrid scheme investing predominantly in equity and equity related instruments	Category	Aggressive Hybrid Fund
Investment Objective	To seek long-term capital growth and income through investments in equity and equity-related securities and fixed income instruments. However, there is no assurance that the investment objective of the Scheme will be achieved.
Min. Investment	Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Re 1 thereafter	Face Value	Rs 10 per unit
Plans	• Regular • Direct	Options	• Growth • Dividend *Default option
Entry Load	Nil	Exit Load	Any redemption / switch-out of units within 1 year from the date of allotment shall be subject to exit load as under:   For 10% of the units redeemed / switched-out: Nil For remaining units redeemed or switched-out: 1.00% No Exit Load will be charged if Units are redeemed / switched-out after 1 year from the date of allotment.
Fund Manager	Neelotpal Sahai and Sanjay Shah	Benchmark Index	A customized index having 70% weight to S&P BSE 200 and 30% weight to CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index
Issue Opens	28th September 2018	Issue Closes:	12th October 2018

(Source: Scheme Information Document)

How will the scheme allocate its assets?

Under normal circumstances, it is anticipated that the asset allocation of HEHF will be as follows:

Table 2: HEHF’s Asset Allocation

Instruments	Indicative allocations (% of total assets)		Risk Profile High/Medium/Low
	Minimum	Maximum
Equities & Equity related securities	65%	80%	High
Debt instruments & Money Market instruments (including Cash & Cash equivalents)	20%	35%	Low to Medium
Units issued by REITs and InvITs	0%	10%	Medium to High

(Source: Scheme Information Document)

Further, it is stated in the offer document that:

• If the Scheme decides to invest in securitised debt, it is the intention of the Investment Manager that such investments will not normally exceed 30% of the corpus of the Scheme.

• If the Scheme decides to invest in ADRs / GDRs issued by Indian Companies and foreign securities in line with SEBI stipulation, it is the intention of the Investment Manager that such investments will not, normally exceed 30% of the assets of the Scheme.

• The Scheme shall have derivative exposure as per the SEBI regulations issued from time to time. However, derivative exposure shall not exceed 50% of the net assets of the Scheme.

• And the Scheme any other instruments as may be permitted by RBI / SEBI / such other Regulatory Authorities from time to time.

What will be the Investment Strategy?

(Image source: freepik.com)

The aim of the HSBC Equity Hybrid Fund is to strike a balance between long-term growth and stability from an actively managed portfolio of equity and equity-related securities and fixed income instruments. The Scheme will try to achieve this by maintaining the aforementioned asset allocation.

HEHF may invest in unlisted and/or privately placed and/or unrated debt securities subject to the limits prescribed in its Scheme Information Document.

To construct the equity portfolio, HEHF will follow a combination of top-down and bottom-up approach. Investments will be pursued in select sectors based on the Investment Team’s analysis of business cycles, regulatory reforms, competitive advantage etc.

The fund manager in selecting stocks will focus on:

• The fundamentals of the business;

• The industry structure;

• The quality of management;

• Sensitivity to economic factors;

• The financial strength of the company; and

• The key earnings drivers

Graph 2: How will HEEF construct the portfolio 

(Source: HSBC Hybrid Equity Fund Presentation)

HEHF will not follow any particular market capitalisation bias. It will adopt a flexi-cap strategy to build a diversified portfolio using PBROE valuation framework.

For investments in debt & money market instruments, HEHF may invest a part of the portfolio in various debt securities issued by corporates and/or state and central government. Such government securities may include securities which are supported by the ability to borrow from the treasury or supported only by the sovereign guarantee or of the state government or supported by GOI/State government in some other way.

With the aim of controlling risks, rigorous in-depth credit evaluation of the instruments proposed to be invested in will be carried out by the Investment Team of the AMC. The credit evaluation includes:

• A study of the operating environment of the company;

• The past track record as well as the future prospects of the issuer;

• The short as well as the long-term financial health of the issuer

The investment in debt securities will also be guided by ratings of rating agencies such as CRISIL, CARE and ICRA or any other rating agency as approved by the regulators.

In addition, the Investment Team will study the macroeconomic conditions, including the political, economic environment and factors affecting liquidity and interest rates. The AMC would use this analysis to attempt to predict the likely direction of interest rates and position the portfolio appropriately to take advantage of the same.

Since investing requires disciplined risk management, the AMC would incorporate adequate safeguards for controlling risks in the portfolio construction process.

Who will manage HEHF?

The HSBC Equity Hybrid Fund will be managed by Mr Neelotpal Sahai and Mr Sanjay Shah.

Mr Neelotpal Sahai is the Senior Vice President & Fund Manager of Equities at HSBC Asset Management (India) Private Limited. He is associated with HSBC Asset Management from April 2013.

He holds a B. Tech degree from IIT Varanasi and PGDM from IIM Kolkata. He has a work experience of over 24 years in Research and Fund management. He worked as an Equity Analyst for 2 years with UTI Securities Ltd, then joined SBC Warburg as an Analyst for a period of one year. Further, he joined Vickers Ballas Securities Ltd for a year as an Analyst to later join Infosys Ltd as a Senior Project Manager for 6 years. Thereafter, joined Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd as a Senior Research Analyst for a year, followed by an opportunity to work as a Director in IDFC Asset Management Company Ltd for 7 years before joining HSBC Asset Management.

Some of the other Equity schemes he manages are HSBC Large Cap Equity Fund, HSBC Multi-Cap Equity Fund, HSBC Small Cap Equity Fund and HSBC Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund along with Mr Shah.

Mr Sanjay Shah is a Senior President & Head of Fixed Income at HSBC Asset Management (India) Private Limited for 8 years now.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in commerce (B. Com), is Chartered Accountant, and has to his credit a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad.

Mr Shah has over 19 years of work experience in research and risk. He joined SBI Funds Management Private Limited as a Chief Manager to handle Debt Funds for 4 years. Later he joined in as a Manager - Credit Risk in ICICI Bank Limited for a year. He was associated with Rabo India Finance Private Limited for two years as Senior Manager- Credit Risk, and after that, he worked in Lehman Brothers Structured Financial Services Private Limited as Vice President, Convertible Products for two years. For a brief time, he worked as Credit Analyst in FIL Fund Management Private Limited before he joined HSBC Asset Management (India) Vice President & Fund Manager, Fixed Income.

Currently, the other schemes he manages are HSBC Managed Solution, HSBC Regular Savings Fund, HSBC Debt Fund, HSBC Short Duration Fund, HSBC Flexi Debt Fund and HSBC Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund along with Mr Sahai.

Table 3: Performance of schemes managed by Mr Sahai and Mr Shah

a. Schemes managed by Mr Sahai, since the time he took over

Scheme Name	SI Benchmark Name	Managing Since	Scheme Return	Benchmark Return
HSBC Large Cap Equity Fund(G)	NIFTY 50 - TRI	May-13	12.19	12.38
HSBC Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund(G)	S&P BSE 200 - TRI	May-13	10.71	13.68
HSBC Multi Cap Equity Fund(G)	S&P BSE 200 - TRI	May-13	15.67	13.68
HSBC Small Cap Equity Fund(G)	S&P BSE 250 Small Cap - TRI	Jun-18	-14.70	-12.80

(Source: ACE MF-PersonalFN Research)

b. Schemes managed by Mr Shah, since the time he took over

Scheme Name	SI Benchmark Name	Managing Since	Scheme Return	Benchmark Return
HSBC Flexi Debt Fund(G)	Crisil Composite Bond Fund Index	Dec-16	1.70	3.36
HSBC Debt Fund(G)	Crisil Composite Bond Fund Index	Jan-09	6.43	7.25
HSBC Regular Savings Fund(G)	CRISIL Hybrid 85+15 - Conservative Index	Jun-09	8.16	N.A.
HSBC Short Duration Fund(G)	Crisil Short Term Bond Fund Index	Jan-09	7.29	7.67

(Source: ACE MF-PersonalFN Research)

As can be seen, most of the schemes managed by both these fund managers have been underperforming their respective benchmark index. Their management style can at best be termed as modest and does not give much confidence to investors.

Fund’s outlook of HSCB Equity Hybrid Fund

As mentioned earlier, the aim of the HSBC Equity Hybrid fund is to tap the dual potential of equity and debt for over a longer horizon.

Following a flexi-cap strategy while building its equity portfolio with the top-down and bottom-up approach is an advantage. In the current market conditions where small-cap and mid-cap companies are hammered, and so have large caps tumbled; it provides an opportunity to do some value buying to the fund managers. However, amidst the extreme turbulence constructing the portfolio would not be easy and may inflict very-high-risk.

The investment by fund managers in debt & money market securities is to position the portfolio in the favourable short-mid-long bonds to avoid extreme risk. The elevated yields as present provide good opportunities but focusing on credit quality would also be imperative to reduce risk to capital.   

Amidst the macroeconomic uncertainties looming, the fortune of the fund would closely be linked to how the fund manager plays the investment strategy in the endeavour to accomplish the investment objective of HEHF.

[Read: Skip NFOs, Instead Consider Building A Strategic Mutual Fund Portfolio ]

Editors’ note:

At PersonalFN to handle the turbulence of the Indian equity market we have formulated the “core and satellite strategy” for mutual funds investors.

The ‘Core and satellite’ investing is a time-tested strategic way to structure and/or restructure your investment portfolio.

PersonalFN’s research states that 60% of the portfolio should be reserved for Core mutual funds and the balance 40%, for the Satellite mutual funds.

Also, when there is a change in market outlook, revisiting the strategically structured portfolio by reviewing assigned weights to funds and the portfolio, is imperious

It would do good to follow this strategy and hold a strategic portfolio, particularly because the Indian equity market would remain volatile for quite some time now.

Want to own the Ultimate Strategic Portfolio Ready-made Mutual Fund Portfolio based on the core and satellite approach of investing?

Looking for “high investment gains at relatively moderate risk”?

Subscribe to PersonalFN’s “The Strategic Funds Portfolio for 2025”; it is geared to potentially multiply your wealth in the years to come. Subscribe now!

---

 

© Quanutm Information Services Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.
Any act of copying, reproducing or distributing this newsletter whether wholly or in part, for any purpose without the permission of PersonalFN is strictly prohibited and shall be deemed to be copyright infringement.

Disclaimer: Quantum Information Services Pvt. Limited (PersonalFN) is not providing any investment advice through this service and, does not constitute or is not intended to constitute an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation to an offer to buy or sell financial products, units or securities. All content and information is provided on an 'As Is' basis by PersonalFN. Information herein is believed to be reliable but PersonalFN does not warrant its completeness or accuracy and expressly disclaims all warranties and conditions of any kind, whether express or implied. PersonalFN and its subsidiaries / affiliates / sponsors or employees, personnel, directors will not be responsible for any direct / indirect loss or liability incurred by the user as a consequence of him or any other person on his behalf taking any investment decisions based on the contents and information provided herein. This is not a specific advisory service to meet the requirements of a specific client. Use of this information is at the user's own risk. The user must make his own investment decisions based on his specific investment objective and financial position and using such independent advisors as he believes necessary. All intellectual property rights emerging from this newsletter are and shall remain with PersonalFN. This is for your personal use and you shall not resell, copy, or redistribute this newsletter or any part of it, or use it for any commercial purpose. The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. As a condition to accessing PersonalFN's content and website, you agree to our Terms and Conditions of Use, available here.

Quantum Information Services Pvt. Ltd. Regd. Office: 103, Regent Chambers, 1st Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400 021 Corp. Office: 103, Regent Chambers, 1st Floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400 021. Email: info@personalfn.com CIN: U65990MH1989PTC054667

SEBI-registered Investment Adviser. Registration No. INA000000680, SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulation, 2013

Add Comments