New Star Confirms Indian Equity Fund Launch
By Alexander Davies | 10 Apr, 2008
New Star Asset Management has announced that they plan to launch an Indian fund before the summer. The fund will be a joint venture with Mumbai-based TATA Asset Management.
TATA Asset Management is part of the TATA Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates, and currently has $6 billion assets under management across 31 funds.
The TATA conglomerate is huge and its business interests are diverse. It owns Tetley tea, and in 2006 the firm bought the Anglo-Dutch steel company, Corus. More recently you may have seen the company in the news for manufacturing the world’s cheapest car, and for purchasing Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford. In 2006/7 TATA generated 3.2% of India’s Gross Domestic Product and currently employs almost 289,500 people.
In our opinion India is one of the key emerging markets and offers good growth potential over the longer term for those prepared to accept the higher risks involved in investing in this area. A company of TATA’s size and diversity is rare and we expect their knowledge of the Indian market to be extensive. This joint venture with New Star could make an interesting fund. We will be keeping a close eye on this situation and will keep investors updated with the developments.
