Wednesday 30 May 2012

Facebook acquiring Opera, Face.com? No, it doesn't make sense

Details, Opinion & Review about Facebook acquiring Opera, Face.com rumors & news
Rumors are floating around about Facebook eyeing Norway based Opera for acquiring the leader in mobile browser. Rumors are also there that the deal could be around 1 billion USD. More rumors are coming up about Facebook attempting to acquire face.com, the Israel based facial-recognition company.
As my honest opinion, none of these acquisitions make sense for facebook.

Already reeling under price pressure - the Facebook stock has tanked to below $29 after the debut. Questions are being raised about the roles of lead managers and advisors about the valuations, especially the last minute hike in the IPO price. Questions are being raised about the 1 billion USD acquisition of instagram.

What is it that facebook is attempting to achieve now with another 2 such big acquisitions?

Facebook Acquition Target: Opera, Face.com? No, it doesn't make sense


Let's look at them one by one:
1) Opera - Norway based browser company, a market leader in mobile browsers.

Why facebook wants it? Why do they really need a browser?
Facebook's platform apparently is not geared up for mobile users, so they look for an existing leader in mobile browser and try to benefit from its lead position.

How will it happen? Nothing is clear. Possibly, facebook will try to customize it or tweak it to have it compatible for facebook access.

Whether it will work? No idea.

What is the competition? It's Everywhere. Right from Google Chrome to other mobile based browsers, there is no guarantee that people will be hooked onto facebook only through this opera browser.

2) Face.com - Israel based face recognition company

Why facebook wants it? Not really sure. Already have instagram on their side for photos. How will face.com help facebook - possibly recognizing the faces? Doesn't make much business sense.
Or are they only after the domain called face.com?

How will the deal benefit facebook - no idea. Don't see any benefit. Possibly, users can search for similar looking human beings? Search for twin siblings if lost? "How much I look like someone else" kind of games?

Instagram deal for facebook was already criticized by many analysts. I agree with them. Now, another of these 2 acquisitions are not going to help - only drain money out as they are at high cost without adding much value.

Let's look at the market sentiment also amid all these rumors and development news
- Facebook Options trading commenced yesterday and the very first day it saw a buildup indicating further fall in the facebook stock price
- The stock has been hammered consistently since its debut, touch intraday lows of below $29
- Questions being raised about the role of investment bankers about the valuations
- Questions being raised about the high cost instagram deal
- Rumors about a third attempt to build facebook smartphone (if true, what all is facebook trying to accomplish?)

It was a good IPO with a momentary good listing, but now Market Mood is low. It doesn't look like this will be a good move by Facebook

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund NFO: Review Analysis & Details

Details about Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund: Review, Analysis, Details & Investment Opinion.
A new equity or stock based mutual fund is going to enter the Indian markets. The fund belongs to Taurus mutual fund house and is called the Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund. As the name suggests, this fund will keep its focus in the banking space by investing the money collected from investors in the stocks of companies operating in the BFSI sector i.e. Banking & Financial Services. That would means stocks of banks, NBFC, financial services companies will be in the portfolio.

In this article, we will analyze how good is this Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund NFO, whether this Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund offers anything new or unique for the investors and whether the investors should invest in Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund.

Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund NFO: Review Analysis & Details

Let's begin with some basic details about Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund.

What are the NFO dates for Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund? Taurus Mutual Fund
Image sourced as screenshot from official Taurus mutual fund site

The NFO period for Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund is from May 2, 2012 to May 16, 2012. After the NFO period, the regular buying, selling and redemption of fund units will start at a date not yet known.

What is so unique about this Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund?
If this has to be answered in simple terms, this fund does offer something unique in terms of being a mutual fund dedicated to BFSI. A mutual fund which will try to focus on the BFSI sector and invest the money collected from investors in the bank and finance company stocks.
In the past as well, there have been many banking mutual funds :

- Lotus India Banking Fund

- ICICI Prudential Banking & Financial Services Fund

- Sundaram BNP Paribas Financial Services Opportunities Fund

Even few ETF's like:

- Reliance Banking Exchange Traded Fund RBETF

- Bank BeES an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)

and many more.

So, there is lot in the market in the BFSI sector for investing through the various available Bank focussed mutual funds and ETF's.

What are the other competitor products available in comparison to Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund?
There are many mutual funds available as listed above. Add it them the list of ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) and Index Funds, the no. will shoot even higher. See List of All Mutual Fund and NFO Articles here
However, there can be more similar products offerings from other fund houses as that list is not complete.

What are the risks of investing and trading Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund?
There are alwasys risks involved in any kind of investment.
The Taurus Mutual Fund claims that India is going to grow and so will the BFSI sector grow and the story goes on & on. Problems with sector specific funds is that they take the hit when the entire sector goes down.
Another problem with Banking and Fincial services sector is that it is highly sensitive to the interest rate fluctuations as well as global developments. Since the interest rates are directly or indirectly controlled by the government, just a small change leads to big moves in the bank and financial stocks in either direction.
Also, there is a big dependency on global developments. Something happens in a European economy, that has a direct or indirect impact on banks across the globe. So by investing in any such sector specific fund, the investor has to take the sector specific risk.
These inherent risks are to be taken by the investor.

Final Thoughts about Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund?
In summary - Another mutual fund focussed on Banking & Financial Services sector. Offers nothing different or unique except for focus on BFSI which is already offered by other fund available in the market.
Investors can also look for ETF's like the Bank BeES ETF by Benchmark or the Reliance Banking Exchange Traded Fund RBETF.

See List of All Mutual Fund and NFO Articles here

During NFO period each unit cost Rs. 10 per unit
Minimum investment Rs 5000 and in multiples of Re 1 afterwards.

Tax benefit will NOT be available in Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund.

There will be 2 plans for investors to choose from:

Multiple options available for investments:
Growth Option
Dividend Option - Payout, Reinvestment, Sweep facilities

Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund Entry Load: NIL
Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund Exit Load: 1% for exit (repurchase/switch-out/SWP) on or before 1 year from the date of allotment.
NIL beyond 1 year.

Asse Allocation:
Equities and equity related instruments of Banking & Financial Services sector - 80% to 100%
Debt and Money market instruments - 0% to 20%

SIP or systematic investment plan? Yes Available.
Minimum application amount 1000 Rs. for SIP, SWP, STP

The benchmark for Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund will be BSE Bankex Index

Mr. Sadanand Shetty will be the fund manager for Taurus Banking & Financial Services Fund.

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