Ideal Capital Unveils 'Sika Fund'

By Ernest KISSIEDU

Statistics show that only 13.7% of Ghanaians are engages in one habit of saving or the other, giving credence to the mantra that there is a persistent lower saving habit among Ghanaians.

A lot of people do not invest their monies at all whilst the few that is willing to invest do not even know exactly where or what to invest in.

It is in this light that Mr. Emmanuel N.A Tackie, Managing Director (MD) for Ideal Capital Partners, has appealed to investors with minimum capitals to inculcate the habit of saving and investing.

"All around the world, the mutual fund size keeps growing and counting in the trillions. Majority of potential investors don't get the chance to invest their capitals due to the amount involved. Mutual funds must be affordable for all," he revealed at the official launch of 'Ideal Sika Fund' in Accra last week.

The Sika Fund is an open-ended money market mutual fund, which has the objective of providing regular income while preserving capital and maintaining liquidity at all times by investing in a diversified portfolio of high quality fixed income securities and other money market instruments.

The Fund is offering a minimum of one million shares at GHC0.20 (or 20 pesewas) per share within the Initial Public Offer (IPO) period. The IPO is set from Thursday 9th March, 2017 to Wednesday 29th March, 2017 during which investors could purchase a minimum of 250 shares (GHC50) and thereafter in multiples of 50 shares (GHC10).

According to the MD, Ghana has a majority of investors opting for and investing within the fixed income space of the market for reasons that fixed income is short term, the expected return is fixed and largely, the investors cannot afford that luxury to lock their scarce funds in relativity longer term investment instruments.

"Research has proven that majority of potential investors never get the chance to start investing due to the relatively high initial capital outlay required to invest in most asset classes, including fixed income investment vehicles," Mr. Tackie added.

There are currently about 36 mutual funds managed by various Fund Managers in Ghana. The best performing funds on the market at the moment have also been able to beat their 91-day treasury bills or the Ghana Stock Exchange Indices benchmarks during most parts of their years in operation.

Mr. Tackie acknowledged that with the Ideal Sika Fund, there will be no barriers for its success and the initiative is poised to meet the ever growing needs of competitive rates, liquidity, and capital preservation even with minimum initial capital.

Adding his voice, Dr. Nii Kotei Dzani, the Groupe President of Ideal Capital Partners, noted that the Central Bank in Ghana has continually failed to whip micro-finance and savings and loans companies who infringed on its laws over the years.

"There are no differences between savings and loans and micro-finance companies in the country. The two must be merged together. Lots of banks in Ghana really suffered as a result of the DKM issues. It seriously affected banks," Dr. Dzani opined.

Mr. Alexander Williams, the acting Commissioner of Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), expressed confidence in the new 'Sika Fund' and observed that the presence of the Mutual Funds on the financial markets has helped to increase innovation and growth in the investment market.

"The SEC has taken various measures to streamline its membership to ensure that there's discipline in the financial markets," he disclosed.

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