The new funds are Apex Equity Long-Short Fund and Apex Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short Fund.
The new fund offers (NFOs) are open for subscription from August 10 to August 24.
Both schemes come under the Specialised Investment Fund framework and require a minimum investment of ₹10 lakh at the PAN level, subject to applicable minimum investment guidelines.
Apex Equity Long-Short Fund
The Apex Equity Long-Short Fund will invest across the equity market and will be benchmarked against the NIFTY 500 TRI.
Unlike a conventional equity fund that generally remains invested in equities, the long-short strategy allows the fund manager to dynamically adjust the portfolio’s net equity exposure based on market conditions.
This means the fund can take long positions to participate in potential gains and use short positions to manage market exposure and seek opportunities when stock prices fall. The strategy is intended to provide greater flexibility across different market cycles.
Apex Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short Fund
The second scheme, Apex Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short Fund, will focus on companies outside India’s top 100 by market capitalisation.
The fund’s investment approach is based on identifying opportunities among companies ranked 101-500 by market capitalisation, while using a long-short strategy to manage overall equity exposure.
According to the fund house, companies ranked 101-250 and 251-500 by market capitalisation recorded market-cap growth of 2.76 times and three times, respectively, over the past five years, compared with 1.8 times for the top 100 companies.
The fund house also highlighted the performance of the broader mid- and small-cap segments. Over the period cited, the Nifty Midcap 150 TRI and Nifty Smallcap 250 TRI delivered compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 15.2% and 12%, respectively, compared with 11.5% for the Nifty 100 TRI.
These figures are part of the investment rationale outlined by the fund house and do not indicate future returns.
What is a long-short SIF?
A long-short strategy gives the fund manager greater flexibility than a traditional long-only equity fund. A fund can hold stocks that it expects to perform well while taking short positions or otherwise reducing exposure to stocks or market segments where it sees downside risks.
The ability to change net equity exposure is intended to help the portfolio navigate different market phases. However, the strategy also involves additional risks associated with short positions, leverage and more complex portfolio management.
SIFs are a relatively new investment category that allows fund managers to use strategies beyond the investment limits applicable to conventional mutual fund schemes, subject to the regulatory framework governing SIFs.
Market outlook
Alongside the launches, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC said it expects earnings growth and stock selection to play an important role in determining equity market returns in the second half of 2026.
The fund house said domestic liquidity remains supportive, while foreign investor participation has also started to improve. It expects stock-specific factors to become important for investors as market conditions evolve.
