Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC has moved a step closer to launching its first product under the Apex SIF platform, with the Apex Hybrid Long-Short Fund cleared to open for subscription in early March. The fund will mark the asset manager's formal debut in the Specialised Investment Fund category, roughly six weeks after it first confirmed plans to enter the space under the Apex brand.
Fund structure at a glance
Element | Detail |
|---|---|
Category | Hybrid Long-Short Fund (interval strategy) |
Minimum investment | ₹10 lakh |
Benchmark | Nifty 50 Hybrid Composite Debt 50:50 Index |
Core components | Equity, debt, arbitrage, equity & debt derivatives, REITs/InvITs |
Unhedged short exposure | Up to 25%, via derivatives |
Equity range | 35–65% |
Debt range | 35–65% |
The fund is designed to combine an income anchor — arbitrage and fixed income positions making up as much as 65% of the portfolio each — with a derivatives overlay using strategies such as covered calls, straddles and protective puts. On top of this, the fund plans to pursue tactical alpha through special situations, including IPOs, buybacks, open offers, delistings, and merger or demerger arbitrage — a template broadly similar to the hybrid long-short SIFs already launched by rival AMCs.
A. Balasubramanian, Managing Director & CEO of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, framed the fund as an expansion of the toolkit available to investors seeking sophisticated wealth creation strategies. He described the fund's positioning as sitting between a balanced advantage fund and an equity savings scheme — intended to suit investors who want a flexible, risk-aware approach across market cycles, occupying the space between retail mutual funds and private wealth products such as PMS.
Notably, the fund is structured to carry equity-like taxation: long-term capital gains on holdings beyond 12 months are set to be taxed at 12.5% (plus applicable surcharge and cess) — a more favourable regime than pure debt taxation, and consistent with how SEBI has structured taxation across the broader SIF category.
With Apex Hybrid Long-Short Fund, ABSL AMC becomes one of the larger fund houses to bring a hybrid SIF to market, following early hybrid launches from other AMCs over the preceding several months. Distributors expect strong initial interest from the AMC's existing HNI and private wealth client base, many of whom are already familiar with Aditya Birla Sun Life's fixed income and equity derivatives capabilities through its existing mutual fund suite.