IN CONTINUATION OF MY RECOMMENDATION OF ARBITRAGE SCHEMES-SOME MORE FACTS AND FIGURES

By · Thursday, February 5th, 2009

In continuation of my note of yesterday, recommending investing in ARBITRAGE SCHEMES, let me spell out first the advantages and analyse point by point whether assumptions mentioned in the note have been proven correct or not.

Major advantages of Investing in Futures Market through the Mutual Fund Route are as follows:

  1. Rate of Return is quite high. Generally Liquid plus returns. If the Fund does not get any arbitrage opportunity, then, the funds are invested in Fixed Income Securities like Liquid Funds.
  2. Investment in these Schemes through the Mutual Fund routes reduces the credit risk to practically nil as the counter parties are Custodians & not the brokers.
  3. If an investor invests in say Corporate Bonds; the investor is running the risks of corporate defaults. However, through this route the risk is on the Exchange which is as good as taking a Sovereign risk.
  4. This is one way of diversifying your investments portfolio.
  5. Investment through the Mutual Fund route has an obvious tax advantage vis a vis direct investment in the same product.
  6. It is simpler to deal in complex products through the Mutual Fund route vis a vis investing directly.

Though the said product is an Equity related product, it has no price risks, credit risks, etc generally attached to this segment of investment. It is for all practical purposes a risk free investment that has the potential to give far superior returns than Liquid Funds with all the features of safety, liquidity, etc. associated with Liquid fund schemes.

Let us analyse based on some parameters & assumptions whether what we had predicted for the said asset class has been proven correct or not:

  1. Has it generated higher returns than liquid & other debt schemes? Following Chart will make it clearer:

 

Derivative Schemes (Growth Option)
Report As On: 04 Feb, 2009
 ARBRITRAGE SCHEMES
 NAV
1M
3M
6M
1Y
HDFC Arbitrage Fund – Retail – Growth
11.10
9.85
9.52
9.65
7.96
ICICI Prudential Blended Plan  - Option A – Growth
13.49
12.79
11.70
10.28
8.28
ICICI Prudential Equity & Derivatives Fund – I O – Retail – Growth
12.02
5.55
8.43
8.25
7.21
IDFC Arbitrage Fund – Plan A (Regular) – Growth
11.80
4.43
8.21
7.82
6.52
IDFC Arbitrage Plus Fund – Plan A – Growth
10.66
4.89
10.71
11.41
JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund – Growth
12.37
8.76
8.48
9.31
8.03
Kotak Equity Arbitrage Fund – Growth
12.96
9.42
9.38
8.74
7.28
Lotus India Arbitrage Fund – Growth
11.56
7.20
7.41
8.23
7.29
SBI Arbitrage Opportunities Fund -  Growth
12.12
10.00
9.19
9.07
7.35
Average-Arbitrage Returns* Post Tax ( if dividend declared)
7.54
8.67
8.74
7.50
Average- Liquid Plus Returns-Pre tax
 
7.85
8.90
9.11
8.87
Average-Liquid IP Returns-Pre Tax
 
7.35
8.33
9.02
8.86

 

  1. There have been no credit or liquidity risks even during market meltdowns from May 11’2006.
  2. This was a good diversification strategy as most of the asset classes had some risks like interest rate & credit risk attached to them. The said product gave excellent returns without either of the risks attached.
  3. It was a much simpler way of dealing with a complex product like this & let the professionals handle the same. They have been able to enhance returns on both counts
    1. Identifying right arbitrage opportunities &
    2. Enhancing returns by squaring off positions before expiry; thereby enhancing returns further.
  4. It is more tax efficient way of getting into arbitrage schemes than doing it directly.
  5. None of the months have Arbitrage Funds given negative returns. What this means is the Redemption NAV of each subsequent months have been higher than the previous month.-Following slide showing 1/3/6 month rolling returns will prove this assumption right:
JM Arbitrage Fund
ROLLING RETURNS
Redemption Dates
1 MNTH
3 MNTHS
6 MNTHS
25-Jan-07
 

 

 

22-Feb-07
7.08
 

 

29-Mar-07
12.55
 

 

26-Apr-07
11.36
10.82
 

31-May-07
7.97
10.89
 

28-Jun-07
7.66
9.18
 

26-Jul-07
8.02
8.12
9.63
30-Aug-07
11.66
9.58
10.45
27-Sep-07
5.50
8.89
9.19
25-Oct-07
11.57
10.02
9.22
29-Nov-07
1.91
6.15
7.98
27-Dec-07
6.41
6.44
7.78
31-Jan-08
18.65
9.40
9.88
28-Feb-08
5.49
11.13
8.77
27-Mar-08
5.30
10.77
8.74
24-Apr-08
7.71
6.34
8.11
29-May-08
5.49
6.29
8.84
26-Jun-08
8.69
7.37
9.22
31-Jul-08
5.06
6.42
6.47
28-Aug-08
6.77
6.89
6.68
25-Sep-08
6.22
6.10
6.83
29-Oct-08
12.94
9.18
7.86
26-Nov-08
8.11
9.61
8.37
24-Dec-08
9.54
10.69
8.51
29-Jan-09
9.11
9.20
9.35

 

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