World's first Islamic ASEAN ETF en route for listing on May 7

Investment management provider, i-VCAP Management Sdn Bhd (i-VCAP), today launched the prospectus for the Shariah-compliant ETF, which will be known as MyETF MSCI SEA Islamic Dividend (MyETF-MSEAD).

i-VCAP Chairman Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad said the fund offered a unique proposition as it provided an opportunity for investors to have an investment exposure into the potential economic growth of the South East Asia region.

"MyETF-MSEAF offers immediate diversification into a basket of Shariah-compliant dividend yielding stocks in five leading countries within South East Asia which consists of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines," he said at the launch of the fund here today.

Wan Kamaruzaman said the launch of MyETF-MSEAD, which can further position Malaysia as the global hub for Shariah investment products, was also in tandem with Malaysia's effort, as the current chairman of the caucus, to promote ASEAN's growth prospects and financial integration framework.

Chief Executive Officer Mahdzir Othman explained that MyETF-MSEAD was an open-ended fund with an approved fund size of 500 million units.

Investors can subscribe to the fund beginning today until April 22, at RM1 per unit with a minimum subscription size of 100 units.

CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd and BIMB Securities Sdn Bhd are the placement agents for MyETF-MSEAD Malaysian Issuing House Sdn Bhd is the issuing house for the fund, he said.

"The fund comes with relatively low fees, transparency and liquidity via stock-like trading capability.

"Upon listing, the underlying securities and net assets value are disclosed daily to investors via Bursa Securities and the MyETF series' website," he said.

Mahdzir said large ASEAN companies like Keppel Corporation Ltd, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, M1 Ltd, Philippines Long Distance Telephone Company, PTT Public Company Ltd and Thai Vegetable Oil Pcl and Telekom Malaysia Bhd were expected to be among the top subscribers.

MyETF-MSEAD is i-VCAP's third fund, and at present, Malaysia has six existing ETFs listed on the Bursa Securities.