CALCUTTA, FEBRUARY 4: Media stocks will outpace the growth by software stocks in the next few years, Sun F&C chief investment officer Gul Teckchandani said here today. Qualifying his statement, he said at the launch of the Emerging Technologies Fund that only content providers and not channel providers will make money. Giving examples of some interesting media IPOs, Gul said both Magnasound and Subhash Ghai had drawn up plans to launch public firms.Talking about fund management and his experience of stock-picking, Gul said the valuation norms had changed from simple price-earnings correlation to price-earnings growth ratio. He said the markets were increasingly being driven by sudden, dramatic events.
Elucidating his point, he said a relatively small company called Shri MM Softek was recently acquired by Sun F&C Balanced Fund. Its price suddenly crossed the Rs 300 mark and was now around Rs 350 on February 3 at BSE. The event, Gul said, which moved the scrip was a strategic tie-up with Transstream of the US. On the investment strategy to be followed for the technology fund, Gul said the average holding period for equities would be about 18-24 months against the normal holding of 3-5 years in other equity funds of the Sun F&C group.
This, he said, was necessary to keep an inventory of active, growth-oriented stocks. It would comprise 30-40 scrips in five or six identified technology sectors.
Sun F&C group CEO Nikhil Khattau said the total domestic assets under management had witnessed a 10-fold jump in the last six months from Rs 60 crore to Rs 600 crore.
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