KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): VCAP Asset Managers Sdn Bhd, a unit jointly owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) and Permodalan Nasional Bhd, is launching an investment fund that will pour money in blue chips, such as Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd.

Currently, VCAP Asset Manager's total asset under management is slightly over RM4 billion. 

The fund is benchmarked against the recently launched FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index, which showcases 25 companies which, according to VCAP, demonstrates a leading approach towards addressing environment, social, and governance (ESG) risks derived from the top 200 companies in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS Index.

The list of 25 companies comprises selected blue chip stocks such as Maybank, CIMB Group Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, Petronas Gas and Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

These companies have a total net market capitalisation of RM271.46 billion, and an average market capitalisation of RM10.86 billion each.

VCAP Asset Managers chief executive officer Shan Kamahl Mohamad said that although blue chips are not exciting in growth, there are still plenty of growth opportunities, especially since the current market valuation is low.

"It is not that they don't have growth, they do have growth, but they're not big. But considering where the market is now, in terms of valuation and what they are perceived to be at the end of the day, I think there are a lot of pockets of opportunities to invest in these stocks in this moment in time.

"Investing in this fund will get you blue chip types of returns. But because this is an actively managed fund, hopefully you'll get decent outperformance above and beyond blue chip returns," Shan Kamahl told reporters at the launch of the ESG Opportunity Fund which was held at Bursa Malaysia today.

However, he stressed that the fund is designed to be mid to long term, and that a short-term investment probably would not see much growth.

"This is a medium- to long-term fund. If you invest for just six months or two months, you wouldn't see the kind of returns the way that you would want to. Invest with us for three years, we'll see how it goes."

VCAP Asset Managers is a wholly-owned unit of ValueCAP Sdn Bhd.