The India Fund of New York announced today that shareholders have approved a new country adviser for the fund. The new country adviser, Advantage India of New York, replaces Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services of Mumbai, India.
Advantage Advisers of New York will continue as the funds investment managers. The approval was secured at the closed-end funds annual shareholder meeting on April 20.
The funds board of directors sought a new country adviser due to Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services affiliations with the Indian government. Due to those affiliations, the fund had been precluded from investing in certain government privatizations, and was also unable to purchase certain securities of financial institutions in India, according to the funds proxy statement, which was filed March 9 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The board believes having advisory personnel in India is beneficial to the company, but that it is desirable to eliminate the investment restrictions.
All investment decisions will continue to be made by Advantage Advisers, according to the terms of the agreement. As country adviser, Advantage India will be primarily involved in providing Advantage Advisers with research of economic and political trends, and providing data relevant to investing in India. Although Advantage India has its headquarters in New York, the company anticipates opening an office in India. Both Advantage Advisers and Advantage India are wholly owned subsidiaries of
