Indian rating major, Crisil has come out with its first ever rating for the mutual fund industry and has rated an interval fund.
The rating agency has assigned a rating of p1+f, to ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (ICICI Prudential MF)?s ICICI Prudential Interval Fund II ? Quarterly Interval Plan D, indicating that the fund?s portfolio will provide ?very strong? protection against losses from credit defaults.
The fund is managed by ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company (AMC). Crisil in a statement said, the rating is not an opinion on AMC?s willingness or ability to make timely payments to investors. It is also not an opinion on the stability of the fund?s net asset value (NAV), since the NAV could vary with developments in the market.
After beginning with the rating of debt papers issued by the corporates and initial public offerings (IPOs) hitting the market, this is the first ever rating issued by the Crisil for the mutual fund industry.
Interval funds combine the features of both open- and close-ended funds. These are open for sale and repurchase at predetermined periodical intervals.
For example, a quarterly interval fund would be open for sale or repurchase at the end of every quarter. Such a scheme would invest in securities that would also mature at the quarter-end.
Investors in the scheme have the option to either redeem or roll over their holdings on to a new series of such a fund, which would have a distinct portfolio separate from the earlier scheme.
