UTI Asset Management Company, housing the net asset value-linked schemes of the erstwhile Unit Trust of India, is planning an initial public offering.

M Damodaran, UTI AMC chairman and managing director, told the Press in Mumbai on Wednesday: "We are giving a thought to the listing of the asset management company at an appropriate time since it is time to return the ownership of the AMC to the fund's investors."

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The IPO could mean divestment by the present AMC sponsors or induction of fresh capital in the AMC. However, it is not clear how things will shape, as Damodaran himself said, "The idea is still at a nascent stage."

UTI AMC has been sponsored by equal contributions from the Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank. It has a capital base of Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million).

In another development, UTI-I plans to return 10 per cent of the capital under Special Unit Scheme-99 (SUS-99) to the government in phases. The scheme has a corpus of Rs 4,666 crore (Rs 46.66 billion).

SUS-99 was floated to give UTI its first bailout when a huge gap was discovered between the underlying net-asset value of the erstwhile Unit Scheme-64 (US-64) and its repurchase price.

The government, the sole investor in SUS-99, gave UTI Rs 3,300 crore (Rs 33 billion) in the form of special bonds. In return, UTI placed all its under-performing public sector unit holdings in the scheme.

Addressing a conference on the New Face of UTI organised by the Indian Merchant Chambers, Damodaran said UTI Mutual planned at least six new schemes, including an assured capital offshore fund, a pension fund, a fund of funds, a floating rate fund and an infrastructure fund.

Elaborating on the changes in the fund, Damodaran said, "The AMC has seen an accretion of Rs 3,000 crore in assets under management to Rs 16,400 crore (Rs 164 billion) on July 31, 2003."