News reports indicate that the spate of consolidation in the mutual fund industry continues as HDFC Mutual Fund, a leading fund house, is looking to acquire Zurich India Mutual Fund, another leading fund house.

Although the press releases have been terse, some noteworthy points have been highlighted. One very significant point from the investor's perspective is the assurance from HDFC Mutual Fund to retain the key investment managers from Zurich India Mutual Fund including Prashant Jain (currently Zurich India Mutual Fund's chief investment officer) who will head all equity schemes post-merger.

Another point in the press release that needs highlighting is the price of acquisition  about Rs 1,500 bn (i.e. Rs 150 crores) on Zurich India MF's asset base of Rs 33,000 bn. This works out to roughly 4.5% of the latter's assets. This comes at a slight premium to what the most fund houses would be willing to pay under normal circumstances. However, in the case of HDFC Mutual Fund, this can be attributed to Zurich India MF's large equity base of Rs 5.8 bn, which is very attractive for anyone who is interested, moreso for a fund house like HDFC Mutual Fund which despite a large base of Rs 70 bn could garner equity funds of about Rs 3 bn (less than 5% of total assets) only.

What does the merger mean for Zurich India MF investors? We at personalfn view this as a very positive development for Zurich India MF investors. Historically, we have had high regard for Zurich India MF  one reason is its performance and the other more important reason is the conservative, no-nonsense investment approach through which this performance has been achieved. Another fund house, that commands a lot of respect at personalfn is HDFC Mutual Fund, again for its investment approach that is driven by very steady, conservative investment principles. It goes without saying that a combination of these two funds would seem like just what the doctor ordered for Zurich India MF investors.

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kllath08@rediffmail.com Aug 21, 2019 my self purchased of 100 unit of 20th century mutual fund in 1993 (centurian prudence fund 1993/cenurian quantam groth fund 1993 in my daughter's name inthis connection please be advice me from where we have status ag the same
alexanderd@makharafi.net May 07, 2020 Dear Sir, I invested in 500 units of Centurion Quantum growth fund in 1993. Please anyone guide me as to what is the present name of the mutual fund and whom to contact for redemption please? Thanks and regards,

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