KARACHI, July 14: Crosby Asset Management (Pakistan) Limited, Pakistan’s first and only completely independent and international asset management company, announced bonus dividend of Rs30 per unit for the unit holders of its wholly managed Crosby Dragon Fund.

Crosby Dragon Fund is the largest equity fund in the private sector with its net assets increasing by over 160 per cent to reach Rs3.5 billion at June 30, 2008, up from Rs1.34 billion at the close of the previous financial year, the CEO Amer Maqbool told a press conference.

He said that the Crosby Asset Management (Pakistan) Limited was currently managing one fund, the Crosby Dragon Fund, which had yielded the highest returns in the open end mutual fund industry over the past two years.

The company itself (Crosby Asset management Pakistan Limited) is owned by the Crosby Asset Management Inc, a firm listed at the London Stock Exchange, with offices in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. “The company has over $2.5 billion in Assets under management for over 600 clients in 55 countries through its various businesses,” the CEO stated.

The dividend for Crosby Dragon Fund declared by the Board for the year ended on June 30, 2008 was 30 per cent of par value and gave out a dividend yield of 23.89 per cent. Overall, Crosby Dragon Fund showed a return of 35.02 per cent over its NAV. An investor holding 100 units as on June 30, 2008 would receive 21.48 units at the NAV of Rs139.64 each. The same bonus payout would apply to unit holders in proportion to their actual holding in units.

The CEO said: “For the second year running, Crosby Dragon Fund has consistently outperformed all other open-end equity funds”. Last year, CDF had shown positive performance of 35.02 per cent, quite the opposite of benchmark KSE-100, which had declined by 10.77pc. In the FY08, the Fund was assigned a 5-star rating.

Mr. Amer Maqbool observed that the company had just undergone a strategic internal restructuring and induction of new team members that would add strength to the company and help take it forward. “The company is committed to providing innovative, value driven and competitive products and services aimed at enhancing and improving the lives of its customers,” the CEO said.