BSEC bins Asian Tiger Sandhani Life Growth Fund extension plea

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has rejected the application of Asian Tiger Sandhani Life Growth Fund, a closed-end mutual fund, to extend its tenure by another 10 years.

Additionally, the BSEC did not approve the fund's request to convert it into an open-end one, as disclosed in a filing on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) today (3 March). Consequently, the fund will be liquidated upon the completion of its tenure on 10 March.

Its unit closed 3.08% higher at Tk6.70 on the DSE today.

Asian Tiger Sandhani Life Growth Fund was listed on the DSE in 2015. It is managed by Asian Tiger Capital Partners, with Bangladesh General Insurance Company serving as the trustee and Standard Chartered Bank acting as the custodian.

According to the disclosure, the asset manager revealed that during a unit holders' meeting, 57.42% of the unit holders voted in favour of extending the fund's tenure, while 42.58% opposed the extension. 

However, mutual fund regulations require at least 75% approval from unit holders to either extend the tenure or convert a closed-end fund into an open-end one. Since the voting results did not meet the threshold, the BSEC denied the application, as stated by the asset manager.

According to the asset manager, the total investment made by investors in the fund is Tk61.79 crore. They received a Tk48.07 crore as dividend in nine years. So, investors have recovered about 77.81% of the amount invested in 9 years.

Meanwhile, in the first half of FY25, the fund incurred a loss of Tk16,077, down from Tk33 lakh loss incurred at the same time a year ago.

At the end of December last year, its net asset value per unit stood at Tk11.08 based on cost price, which was Tk8.31 at the market price.

Due to incurring loss, the fund failed to pay dividend for the last two consecutive years.