First Fund targets GH¢150m in 2017
First Fund, a mutual fund managed by Firstbanc, is seeking to raise a minimum of GH¢150 million in Assets Under Management (AUM) in 2017.
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The Managing Director of Firstbanc, Mr Amenyo Setordzie, in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting said it was on course to achieve this target as the fund had already recorded over GH¢100 million in terms of AUM, as at May 31st, this year.
“Just a couple of weeks ago, we clocked our first GH¢100 million in terms of size of asset under management and we are almost at GH¢105 million. We are just about six months into the year so we believe strongly that we are on course and as we keep up with our aggressive marketing, and with strategic alliances, we believe we will be able to achieve the target,” he stated.
The managing director also pointed out that it was positioning itself well to benefit from the expansion of the economy, which was expected to happen as a result of ramped up production from the TEN and Sankofa oil fields this year.
When these two oil fields start full production, the country’s economy and the energy sector is expected to stabilise, and he said, Firstbanc had started putting in place measures to benefit from the funds that would trickle down into the economy as a result of these developments.
“It’s all about funds trickling in into the economy and if that happens, then we will be looking at the downstream spill overs, in terms of auxiliary companies that will be coming up, and the many employment that will be generated. So we believe strongly that as the economy expands as a result of the TEN and Sankofa projects, it presents to us some areas that we can tap into,” he said.
First fund performs in 2016
First fund posted a remarkable performance in 2016, outperforming the benchmark 91-day Treasury bill rate.
The fund closed the year with an annualized yield of 36.27 per cent, ahead of the benchmark 91-day Treasury bill rate which averaged 21.88 per cent by close of 2016.
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The AUM also grew by over 70 per cent from GH¢44.45 million in 2015 to GH¢75.81 million by the end of 2016.
The number of shareholders also increased significantly by over 21 per cent to 14,000 by the end of 2016.
Mr Setordzie said the fund was poised to benefit from favourable market conditions while guarding against rough conditions.
He said it remained committed to ensuring superior returns and capital preservation and would, therefore, continue to invest in secured high-yielding instruments.
Heritage fund performance
The company’s long term mutual fund, the Heritage Fund, also posted a return of -0.40 per cent, which was much higher than the -15.33 per cent posted by the stock market as a whole.
This performance, however, compares unfavourably to the 4.23 per cent posted by the fund in 2015.
In the year under review, financial, insurance and petroleum stocks posted negative returns whiles foods and beverage and manufacturing sectors recorded positive returns. Most of the financial stocks made a marginal recovery towards the latter part of the year as compared with the earlier months in 2016.
The fund price fluctuated over the period, trading in the range of GH¢0.3958 and GH¢0.4353. The fund price, however, fell by 0.40 per cent from GH¢0.4167 at the beginning to GH¢0.4150 at the end of the period.
The AUM also grew marginally from GH¢1,549 from the beginning of the year to GH¢1,650, showing a growth rate of 6.52 per cent.
Mr Setordzie attributed the growth in the AUM to returns from the fixed income allocation in the fund’s portfolio.
Going forward, he said, it would continue to pursue a strategy of fine-tuning the portfolio for growth while paying close attention to risk management, especially given the spillover effect from last year. — GB