KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Pelaburan Mara Bhd’s (PMB) wholly-owned subsidiary PMB Investment Bhd is confident of achieving RM2 billion in assets under management (AUM) by end of 2020 from RM1.33 billion as at June.

PMB Investment chief executive officer Najmi Mohamed said the group, which is currently managing 16 funds, was set to launch a new milestone fund with unique features by year-end on approval from the Securities Commission.

“We saw a significant increase in our AUM of about 15 per cent over the past few months following the high liquidity in the market due to the low interest regime. But redemption was also high for the past two months as our funds provided good returns.

“We are confident the target could be achieved as we have good risk management. Usually people would reinvest when the price goes down and we hope to control the redemption,” he told a press conference on PMB Investment’s five outstanding funds here today.

Also present were Rural Development Minister Datuk Dr Abd Latiff Ahmad, PMB chairman Datuk Azrulnizam Abdul Aziz and PMB acting group chief executive officer Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah Raja Hussin.

Najmi said PMB Investment was also looking into an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to be listed in the US by the first quarter of next year.

“We see the potential there as the top 10 funds are traded on the global markets while the footing for ETFs in this region, especially Malaysia, is still not strong due to liquidity and understanding on the fund,” he said.

Najmi said the company’s target market comprised both retail and corporate investors.

PMB Investment, he said, was also gearing its marketing effort to attract more retail buyers by giving extensive training to address investors’ issues personally and assist potential investors to map risk tolerance to its various funds.

On the corporate side, he said it had attracted several corporate clients and was awaiting the green light from their boards.

Meanwhile, PMB Investment chief investment officer Isnami Ahmad Mohtar said the group currently managed 16 shariah funds with investments in three major asset classes — equity, sukuk and money market.

“We have about 98,000 unit holders of different races, of whom 80 per cent are Bumiputeras and 15 per cent are Chinese,” he said.

He said the group’s top five funds, PMB Shariah ASEAN Stars Equity USD, PMB Shariah Growth Fund, PMB Shariah Small-Cap Fund, PMB Dana Mutiara and PMB Shariah Index provided returns ranging from nine per cent to 30 per cent.

“The other 11 funds also performed well above market rate, with returns of between three and eight per cent,” he said.

On the equity market outlook, he sees the stock market as being in an overbought condition at present. Thus the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) is expected to move into a consolidation mode in the third quarter of 2020, following a 31.7 per cent gain from its lowest point of 1,219.72 on March 19, 2020.

However, glove and selective technology counters will remain the investors’ top choices, he said, as the World Health Organisation had warned of the Covid-19 pandemic’s potential to get far worse if all nations did not adhere to basic precautions.

“We expect the market to record a better performance in the fourth quarter, after consolidating in the third quarter. We also expect investors to accumulate in the fourth quarter in the hope that the market will perform better in 2021,” he said.

With the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s 2021 projections of global gross domestic product growth at 5.4 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively, Isnami said corporate earnings, from a low base in 2020, were also projected to record better growth next year.

He said the low interest rate environment, expected to remain until next year resulting in high liquidity, would also help to lift the market.

“With some recovery play, the global stock market including Malaysia is forecast to perform better next year,” he added. — Bernama