The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has recorded an 87.4 per cent growth in its assets under management (AUM) from GH¢1.7 billion to GH¢3.2 billion within the last 12 months, ending December 2022.
The fund recorded an annualised end-year return of 6.13 per cent in 2022.
The return was also influenced by foreign exchange volatility and good treasury management of funds.
MIIF indicated that the growth was primarily anchored on innovative strategies which led to increase in royalties income, expansion of royalty sources and investment income.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the fund, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that MIIF mobilised GH¢1.3 billion in 2021 and GH¢1.8 billion in 2022, representing a 36 per cent growth over the previous year, a major factor in growing the AUM.
“We have been able to do this because of an inter-agency framework we put in place last year which has seen us collaborating with more agencies,” he said.
Mr Koranteng mentioned some of the agencies as the Ghana Standards Authority, the Economic and Organised Crime Office and the Minerals Commission, the regulator of the minerals sub sector.
“We have also adopted innovative technologies such as geo-mapping all mining sites in Ghana and also creating a real-time dashboard for all royalties contribution from every mine in the country,” the MIIF CEO added.
Mr Koranteng further said the Fund put in measures to expand the royalties stream by adding sand winning and salt to the list of royalties- paying minerals which helped with diversifying the royalties base away from gold.
Investment activities of MIIF started in March 2022 with a $20 million acquisition stake in Ashanti Gold Corporation, a Canadian and German listed company which has assets in Bibiani, Chirano, and Kubi.
MIIF subscribed to 14,514,286 ordinary shares in the company, representing 4.62 per cent of the entity at the time of purchase.
MIIF also closed a GH¢25 million deal in a Ghana/Africa small and medium enterprise (SME) focused fund.