Fidelity announces changing fund roles in India
Fidelity Mutual Fund, which is Fidelity International's Indian asset management company, has announced changes in its equity fund management team.
Effective June 1, Sandeep Kothari will take over the management of the Fidelity International Opportunities Fund, while Nitin Bajaj, who has relocated to Mumbai from Fidelity's London office, will take over the management of the Fidelity India Special Situations Fund. These changes are a result of Rajesh Singh, who currently manages both these funds, relocating to Fidelity's Hong Kong office.
Kothari is the fund manager for three funds -- Fidelity Equity Fund, Fidelity Tax Advantage Fund and Fidelity India Growth Fund -- and he will continue to manage these in addition to the Fidelity International Opportunities Fund. Before relocating to Mumbai in 2006, he was based in Fidelity's Hong Kong office, where he had been a country portfolio manager for Indian equities since 2005, working closely with Fidelity's team of investment analysts based in Mumbai. Prior to becoming a portfolio manager, he was an investment analyst in the Hong Kong office, covering a variety of sectors in India and other Asian markets including consumer-related stocks, IT services, basic materials, and pharmaceutical companies. Before joining Fidelity International in 2002, he was at CLSA Emerging Markets in Mumbai, where he covered Indian and emerging Europe pharmaceutical companies.
Bajaj joined Fidelity International in 2003 as a research analyst in London and, after a very successful and highly rated period in research, in 2007 he became an assistant portfolio manager for the Global Special Situations Fund in the UK with a remit to search for investment opportunities globally. As a research analyst he covered European food and tobacco and large-cap Italian and Spanish banks. Prior to joining Fidelity, he was at KPMG in India for four years working as a business analyst.
Subramanian Balakrishnan will continue to manage the investments in to foreign securities for the two funds.
Fidelity India Special Situations Fund was launched in May 2006. The fund seeks to deliver long-term capital appreciation through investing into a broad spectrum of Indian equities and related securities including equity derivatives. The fund is managed aggressively, with a focus to create a diversified portfolio around high-conviction stocks in special situations or with unusual angles.
The Fidelity International Opportunities Fund was launched in May 2007 to offer Indian investors an opportunity for geographic diversification of their investment portfolios. The fund seeks to generate long-term capital appreciation from a diversified portfolio of predominantly equity and equity-related securities including equity derivatives in the Indian and international markets, with a high focus on opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.