Sirius Opportunity Fund was launchedon May 6th 2013 and had its Initial Public Offer (I.P.O.) until Monday, May 27th 2013.After the launch in May 2013, the fund successfully exceeded the minimum subscription requirement in the IPO period. Continuous share offer commenced on 14th June 2013.SIRIUS OPPORTUNITY FUND (S.O.F.)is licensed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ghanaas a collective investment scheme that pools money from many investors to invest on their behalf. It is professionally managed by a Fund Manager (Sirius Capital Limited) to yield higher returns. The fund is an open-ended money market mutual fund which mobilizes funds from corporate bodies/individuals, churches, educational institutions, and associations etc. with unique advantages of being very flexible, highly transparent, liquidity as well as an entitlement for shareholders to attend and vote at Annual General Meetings.
Usually, mutual funds are great financial Instruments as it diversifies risks by investing securities in many asset classes and using a professional fund manager. Their diversity helps control volatility on the market because of the different asset classes making it very beneficial with less risk. May 6th, 2014saw the fund successfully ending its first year of operation after a great half year operation in 2013.
2013 Performance
Mr Michael Mba Allan one of the fund?s directors whochair the function spoke about the performance of the fund in 2013. He indicated that the price performance index was impressive in 2013. The fund, which opened in May 2013 with a share price of 0.50 pesewas ended at 0.57 pesewas as at 31/12/2013. This shows a gain of 14% for just the half year of 2013. This indicates that fund performed better than its benchmark market instruments which are the Government of Ghana Treasury bill.
Operationally, to ensure ease of fund subscription and increase in patronage, the fund introduced the Zenith Bank Ghana Direct Debit platform to clients. The Direct Debit platform allows clients to directly transfer funds from their accounts into Sirius Opportunity Fund. There were a few hitches that resulted in a shortfall funds receivable on the platform; but as a result of some interventions, these were resolved. Since then, the fund has optimized the use of the platform and this has significantly improved funds mobilization.
2014 Outlook of the Fund
Though there has been some short term volatility in the economy, the fundamentals of the economy are still strong and the nation?s medium term prospects are bright. In the money market industry, it is expected that fixed income instruments will continue to experience high yields in the year.The yields are expected to remain at their current levels (within 22%-26%). Given the expectation of events in the short to medium term, the fund manager reiterated its efforts to gear investments towards medium-term securities. Operationally, there is expected to be aggressive advertisement through the print and electronic media, increase in clientele on the direct debit platform in order to boost inflows, increase funds under management and educate the public on the need to diversify their investments which will eventually improve the performance of the fund. Though these activities will be carried out, the fund is keen on ensuring lower costs to the operations side of the business including retooling its back- and middle-office support functions in a bid to achieve operational excellence. This renewed focus will help streamline operations so that the fund can be more nimble in seizing the new opportunities ahead. The fund manager also reiterated its goal to ensure that Sirius Opportunity Fund (SOF) gains recognition as the most investor friendly and most profitable investment vehicle in the money market.
By Joshua Sowu
