UTI AMC, the largest and the oldest mutual fund in the country, on Thursday saw the chairpersons of its four sponsors meet together at the Mumbai headquarters for the first time.

In a slew of announcements that chart out the future growth path of the fund, UTI AMC Managing Director & CEO UK Sinha said the firm would get into the distribution business and acquire a technology company. UTI is also open to inorganic growth in domestic mutual fund business.

Sinha said, "UTI proposes to acquire a stake in a full fledged technology company. We will also explore ways to acquire a distribution company soon or develop one on our own. We look at our SBUs in research, administration and accounting as profit centers and will hive off the same going forward."

Sinha added that UTI would launch a new equity product in January 2006.

He feels that even at over 9000, the markets still offer a huge potential with good fundamentals and good quarterly results expectations.

UTI International, which already has a FII license from Sebi, would be used as a medium to target NRIs, offshore funds and offshore portfolio investment in a bid to expand the international business.

UTI AMC's domestic assets are expected to grow at about 20 per cent CAGR to reach about Rs 62,000 crore (Rs 620 billion) by 2010 March.

The four sponsors, SBI [Get Quote], LIC [Get Quote], BOB and PNB have also assured cooperation in extending their distribution network to UTI and want the AMC to be run as a board driven company.

Its PMS is also expected to contribute to its bottomline. The four sponsors have already committed a total of Rs 1236 crore (Rs 12.36 billion) to the AMC.

Speaking on the sidelines of the press meet, Sinha pointed out that going forward, in order to retain and attract talent, UTI would provide market driven compensation and good working environment.