ECONOMY er-national
Turkish asset management firm to launch property funds
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News | 3/29/2011 12:00:00 AM |
Ak Asset Management, a subsidiary of local lender Akbank, is preparing to launch four new capital protected property funds linked to food, gold and oil index prices for investors next month.
Ak Asset Management, a subsidiary of local lender Akbank, is preparing to launch four new capital protected property funds linked to food, gold and oil index prices for investors next month.
“The capital protected property funds has started to gain a larger share in the portion of the Turkey’s total asset management,” said Dr. Alp Keler, the general manager Ak Asset, during a Tuesday meeting in Istanbul. The share of the protected funds has increased sevenfold in the last two years and now covers some 10 percent of all funds offered by Ak Asset, he said.
Addressing journalists, Keler said total assets managed by Ak Asset Management account for 8.3 billion Turkish Liras, 13 percent of the total Turkish asset management market. “We aim for a bigger portion,” he said, adding that the approximately 50 billion lira sector of is expected to hit nearly 200 billion liras in the next few years.
“With the new protected funds linked to commodity prices, we are aiming to increase 20 percent current share in domestic protected funds market,” said Keler. “As the current interest rate could not secure investments against the risks of inflation across the world, I believe the investments could be hedged with oil, cotton, gold and food prices.”
The 100 percent capital-protected funds which are linked to a basket of commodities of corn, sugar, soy and the 89 percent of capital-protected funds which are linked to another basket of gold are set to be launched by the firm on April 4. Two other capital protected funds linked to a basket of oil, copper, gold, cotton and 98 percent capital-protected funds linked to Istanbul Stock Exchange, or ISE-30 companies will be launched on April 25.
Talking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, Keler said, “Due to the considerably low interest rates in Turkey, more investors are in search of alternative instruments that offer lower risks.”
Keler said that the interest of Turkish investors was expected to be high for such alternative methods. “The total volume of the capital protected funds managed by Ak Asset Management hit nearly 3 billion liras by the end of last year.”