Vetiva Fund Managers Limited says it has inaugurated a new fund targeted at investors with medium risk appetite.

According to the firm, the inauguration of the DV Balanced Fund is through an Initial Public Offering of 20,000,000 units at N100 each.

It said in a statement on Wednesday that the application list opened on Monday, April 14, and would close on May 26, 2014.

According to the statement, the DV Balanced Fund is an open-ended unit trust scheme, which seeks to invest in a range of securities, including quoted equities and fixed income securities.

“The fund will employ a strategy, which achieves consistent growth primarily from a well-diversified portfolio of stocks,” it said.

The company added that the asset mix would also seek to mitigate the volatility associated with equity investments by allocating a portion of the fund’s assets to money market and fixed income instruments.

The Managing Director, Vetiva Fund Managers Limited, which is the fund manager to the DV Balanced Fund, Mr. Damilola Ajayi, was quoted as saying that the fund was designed to facilitate capital appreciation in the medium to the long term.

Following the completion board meeting in respect of the Initial Public Offering, he said, “The fund is targeted at prudent investors with medium risk appetite, who wish to achieve capital appreciation over the medium to long term.”

For his part, the Chairman, Vetiva Fund Managers Limited, Mr. Chuka Eseka, said the fund would help attract more investment in Nigerian equities.

“The DV Balanced Fund provides an opportunity for investors to take advantage of investments in Nigerian equities whilst managing their risk exposure,” Eseka was quoted as saying.

Vetiva Fund Managers Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vetiva Capital Management Limited, recently listed the first equity-based Exchange Traded Fund in Nigeria, the Vetiva Griffin 30 ETF, on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Ajayi had explained that the listing of the ETF would broaden the investment options available to investors in the Nigerian capital market, especially retail investors.

Source: Punch (by Simon Ejembi)