Nigeria’s mutual fund assets hit N300b

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Securities and Exchange Commission

Elicits increased interest in both local, global markets

The high level of professionalism and quality of mutual funds in Nigeria has elicited increased patronage and subscription rate by individual, retail and institutional investors, a Senior Fund Manager and Head, Coronation Asset Management, Emeka Okolo, has said.

Besides, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also announced that total Asset Under Management (AUM) of mutual funds in Nigeria topped N300billion for the first time ever with N42billion inflows in first quarter (Q1) of 2017, against the N49billion inflows recorded in the entire 2016.

Okolo, who spoke at the launch of one of the funds, explained that active portfolio management by experienced professionals offer investors better prospects on their investments especially in periods of market volatility and economic downturns as is being experienced in Nigeria, making mutual funds an optimal choice.

On the Coronation Mutual Funds, he said: “No one can doubt the capacity and expertise of Coronation Asset Management to deliver competitive returns to investors in the Coronation Mutual Funds.

“The level of professionalism and quality of investments will be difficult to match by other mutual fund managers in Nigeria and the West African sub-region. This, coupled with the proposed investment mix, and the fund structures distinguish these Mutual Funds.

“Indeed the recently launched, Naira denominated, open-ended mutual funds by Coronation Assets Management Ltd., which witnessed a high subscription rate by Individual, retail and institutional investors has continued to elicit excitement. The Mutual Funds N1.5billion Money Market Fund, N400million Fixed Income Fund and the N200million Balanced Fund, were all offered at par of N1 each.”

Chairman of the Bank, Tunde Folawiyo, said the funds offer all strata of investors, individual and corporate, an opportunity to diversify their investment portfolios backed by the strength of the ‘Coronation Brand’ and managed by a team of experienced professionals at Coronation Asset Management.

According to the Chairman, the Money Market Fund will exclusively invest in short-dated money market instruments, offering capital preservation and liquidity to investors.

Furthermore, he added that the Fixed Income Fund will invest in FGN and investment grade corporate bonds, while the Balanced Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio of carefully chosen equity securities with strong fundamentals and prospects of delivering long term positive investment returns. Also, to tactically invest in fixed income securities to actively manage short term volatility in its equities exposure.

“The Coronation Mutual Funds are being overseen by institutions with strong track records of providing superior financial services with Coronation Asset Management acting as the Fund Manager, Citibank Nigeria as Custodian, and United Securities Limited as Registrar to all three funds.”