The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited
Press Release
a

Rating Action
Lahore: (17-April-2006)
    PACRA Assigns 5-Star Fund Rating to Unit Trust of Pakistan (UTP)
 

 
Analyst
Maimoon Rasheed
(+92-42-586 9504)
maimoon@pacra.com

 

 

 












 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer
This press release is transmitted to you for this sole purpose of dissemination through your newspaper/magazine/agency. The press release may be used by you in full or in part without changing the meaning or context thereof but with due credit to PACRA. However, PACRA has the sole right of distribution of its press releases for consideration or otherwise through any media.

  

The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA) has assigned a 5-Star fund rating (Category: Balanced Fund) to Unit Trust of Pakistan (UTP), which reflects superior performance relative to its peer. The rating is a composite measure of two factors namely a) returns, and b) risk associated with the returns measured by Sharpe Ratio.

About the fund: UTP was Pakistan’s first open-end scheme in the private sector. It was established under a Trust Deed executed in April 1997. Currently, Central Depository Company (CDC) is the trustee of the Fund. The primary objective of UTP is aimed at preserving investors’ capital while maximizing value and maintaining a stable stream of income. The objective is achieved by providing investors with balanced exposure to equity securities, debt instruments and short-term placements.

About the Asset Manager: Incorporated in 1995, ABAMCO is the largest private sector asset management company in Pakistan, managing assets of around PKR 27bln. It is a subsidiary of Jahangir Siddiqui & Company Limited (JSCL), the flagship and main holding company of the JS group. Other institutional shareholders of ABAMCO include AMVESCAP Plc. – a leading global asset management company – and International Finance Corporation, a part of the World Bank Group.

ABAMCO has an asset manager rating of ‘AM2’, which reflects the company’s very strong capacity to manage the risks inherent in asset management. The Chief Executive of ABAMCO, Mr. Najam Ali, is a Chartered Accountant with extensive exposure to the financial sector. The Chief Investment Officer is an MBA with significant buy-side and sell-side experience in Pakistan’s financial and capital markets. The fund manager of UTP is also an MBA having considerable experience in the financial sector.
 
The primary function of PACRA is to evaluate the capacity and willingness of an entity to honor its obligations. Our ratings reflect an independent, professional and impartial assessment of the risks associated with a particular instrument or an entity.

PACRA's comprehensive offerings include instrument and entity credit ratings, insurer financial strength ratings, fund ratings, asset manager ratings and real estate gradings.

PACRA's opinion is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold a security, in as much as it does not comment on the security's market price or suitability for a particular investor.