
Union Mutual Fund
Union Mutual Fund
Introduction to Union Mutual Fund
Union Mutual Fund is one of India's established asset management companies, known for its commitment to providing a reliable and trusted investment avenue for investors. It is sponsored by Union Bank of India, one of the leading public sector banks in India, and Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc., a prominent Japanese financial services holding company with global presence in the insurance and asset management sectors.
Union Mutual Fund was constituted as a Trust in 2011, with its Asset Management Company (AMC), Union Asset Management Company Private Limited, incorporated in 2009. The fund house initially began as a joint venture with KBC Asset Management NV, a Belgian-based AMC, and was known as Union KBC Mutual Fund. In 2016, Union Bank of India acquired KBC's stake, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of Union Bank of India. Subsequently, Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. came on board as a co-sponsor, further strengthening its foundation.
Union Mutual Fund operates on a core investment philosophy that emphasizes:
- Responsible Investing: Providing opportunities for investors to achieve sustainable prosperity.
- Credit Risk Management: Careful selection of securities to manage credit risks effectively, particularly in fixed-income portfolios.
- True-to-Mandate Portfolios: Constructing investment portfolios that strictly adhere to their stated investment objectives and mandates.
- Transparency and Consistency: Maintaining high levels of transparency in operations and striving for consistent performance across schemes.
- Investor-Centric Approach: Designing diversified fund options to cater to the varied requirements and risk appetites of different investors.
With the backing of a major public sector bank and an international financial powerhouse, Union Mutual Fund aims to be a trusted partner for long-term wealth creation.
Fund Managers
Union Mutual Fund has a well-structured and experienced investment team. Here are some of the key fund managers and their respective areas:
- Mr. Harshad Patwardhan: Chief Investment Officer (CIO). With over 30 years of experience in investment research and portfolio management in Indian equities, he guides the overall investment strategy for equity funds.
- Mr. Parijat Agrawal: Head - Fixed Income. He has extensive experience in the fixed income space, overseeing the debt and money market investment strategies.
- Mr. Sanjay Bembalkar: Head - Equity. He leads the equity fund management team.
- Mr. Devesh Thacker: Fund Manager - Fixed Income.
- Mr. Gaurav Chopra: Fund Manager - Equity.
- Mr. Pratik Dharmshi: Fund Manager - Equity.
- Mr. Vinod Malviya: Fund Manager - Equity.
- Mr. Anindya Sarkar: Fund Manager - Fixed Income.
- Mr. Shrenuj Parekh: Co-Fund Manager – Fixed Income.
This team-based approach allows for specialized expertise across different asset classes and investment styles, contributing to the fund house's objective of delivering competitive returns.
Scope of Union Mutual Fund
The scope of Union Mutual Fund is comprehensive, covering a broad spectrum of investment solutions for diverse investor needs:
- Diverse Product Portfolio: They offer a full range of schemes across major categories, including equity funds, debt funds, hybrid funds, and solution-oriented funds.
- Equity Market Coverage: Their equity funds span various market capitalizations (large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, flexi-cap, multi-cap) and also include thematic/sectoral funds and an ELSS (tax-saving) fund.
- Fixed Income Expertise: Leveraging the sponsor's banking background, they offer a wide array of debt funds catering to different durations and credit profiles, from overnight funds to corporate bond funds and gilt funds.
- Hybrid Solutions: They provide hybrid funds like Aggressive Hybrid, Balanced Advantage, and Multi-Asset Allocation funds, which offer a blend of equity and debt exposures to suit varying risk-return preferences.
- Risk Management Focus: A key part of their scope is to maintain stringent risk management frameworks, especially in fixed income, through careful selection of securities and adherence to mandate.
- Accessible Investment: They aim to make mutual funds accessible to a wide investor base, including through features like low minimum investment amounts (e.g., SIPs starting from Rs. 500) and various online transaction options.
- Robust Distribution Network: Benefiting from Union Bank of India's extensive branch network, they have a wide reach across the country, serving both individual and institutional investors.
- Transparency: They emphasize providing complete transparency to investors by regularly reporting on investment portfolios and performance.
List of All Funds with Brief Explanation (Prominent Schemes)
Union Mutual Fund offers a significant number of schemes across various categories. Here are some of their prominent funds with brief explanations:
Equity Funds:
- Union Flexi Cap Fund: An open-ended equity scheme investing across large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies. It offers the fund manager the flexibility to dynamically allocate assets across market caps based on market opportunities and valuations, aiming for long-term capital appreciation.
- Union Midcap Fund: Focuses on investing predominantly in equity and equity-related instruments of mid-cap companies. It aims to generate long-term capital appreciation by identifying growth opportunities within the mid-sized segment of the market.
- Union Small Cap Fund: Primarily invests in equity and equity-related instruments of small-cap companies. This fund carries higher risk but offers the potential for significant long-term growth by tapping into emerging businesses.
- Union Large Cap Fund: An open-ended equity scheme investing predominantly in equity and equity-related instruments of large-cap companies. It aims for relatively stable long-term capital appreciation by focusing on well-established and large businesses.
- Union ELSS Tax Saver Fund: An Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS) that offers tax benefits under Section 80C with a mandatory 3-year lock-in period. It invests primarily in equities for long-term capital growth and tax efficiency.
- Union Value Discovery Fund: An open-ended equity scheme following a value investment strategy. It seeks to identify undervalued companies with strong fundamentals that have the potential for re-rating over the long term.
- Union Focused Fund: Invests in a concentrated portfolio of a limited number of equity and equity-related instruments (up to 30 stocks) across market capitalizations. It aims to generate long-term capital appreciation from high-conviction investment ideas.
- Union Innovation and Opportunities Fund: A thematic fund focusing on companies that are innovative or are expected to benefit from new opportunities arising from technological advancements, evolving consumer behaviors, or policy changes.
- Union Business Cycle Fund: An equity fund that aims to invest in sectors and stocks that are expected to perform well during different phases of the economic business cycle, seeking to capitalize on cyclical trends.
- Union Large and Midcap Fund: Invests in a diversified portfolio of large-cap and mid-cap companies, providing a blend of stability from large caps and growth potential from mid-caps.
- Union Children's Fund: A solution-oriented fund designed to generate long-term capital appreciation for the financial needs of a child, typically investing across equities and debt.
- Union Active Momentum Fund: A thematic equity scheme that invests in stocks exhibiting strong price momentum characteristics, aiming to capture trending market movements.
Hybrid Funds:
- Union Balanced Advantage Fund: A dynamic asset allocation fund that flexibly manages its exposure to equity and debt based on quantitative models and market valuations. It aims to provide relatively stable risk-adjusted returns across various market cycles.
- Union Aggressive Hybrid Fund: An open-ended hybrid scheme that invests a higher proportion (typically 65-80%) in equities for growth and the remaining in debt instruments for stability and income.
- Union Multi Asset Allocation Fund: Invests across at least three asset classes (typically equity, debt, and gold/silver ETFs), aiming to provide broad diversification and optimize risk-adjusted returns through dynamic asset allocation.
- Union Equity Savings Fund: A hybrid fund that combines equity investments (including arbitrage opportunities) with debt instruments. It aims to generate relatively stable returns with lower volatility compared to pure equity funds, while being tax-efficient.
- Union Arbitrage Fund: A low-risk hybrid strategy fund that aims to generate stable returns by capitalizing on arbitrage opportunities between the cash and derivatives markets for equities, providing tax-efficient income.
Debt Funds:
- Union Liquid Fund: Invests in highly liquid money market instruments with very short maturities. It is suitable for short-term parking of funds, offering high liquidity and stable returns.
- Union Overnight Fund: Invests exclusively in overnight instruments (maturing in one business day), providing maximum liquidity and minimal interest rate risk, ideal for extremely short-term investments.
- Union Short Duration Fund: Invests in debt and money market instruments with a Macaulay duration between 1 year and 3 years, aiming for relatively stable returns with moderate interest rate risk.
- Union Banking & PSU Debt Fund: Focuses on investing in debt instruments issued by banks, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), and Public Financial Institutions (PFIs), primarily in high-credit-quality papers.
- Union Corporate Bond Fund: Primarily invests in corporate bonds of various maturities issued by well-rated companies, aiming for stable income and capital appreciation.
- Union Gilt Fund: Invests predominantly in Government Securities (G-Secs) across various maturities. It carries sovereign credit quality but is subject to interest rate fluctuations.
- Union Dynamic Bond Fund: An actively managed debt fund that can invest across various maturities of debt and money market instruments based on the fund manager's view on interest rate movements.
- Union Medium Duration Fund: Invests in debt and money market instruments with a Macaulay duration between 3 years to 4 years.
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