malvernmugadzikwa
Lincoln Towindo
News Editor
A COMPREHENSIVE valuation of companies placed under the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), conducted by highly respected local and international accounting firms over the past five months, has put its overall value of assets at US$16 billion, ranking it among Africa’s four largest sovereign wealth funds, The Sunday Mail has established.
This raises the expectation that the assets can be leveraged to spur economic development.
Mutapa’s multi-billion-dollar asset portfolio is spread across a diverse range of lucrative sectors such as mineral resources, transport and logistics, financial services and real estate.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, MIF chief executive officer Dr John Mangudya said: “The Mutapa Investment Fund has been able to undertake a comprehensive diagnostic assessment of all the portfolio companies under its ambit over the past five months. On the basis of the assessment, the fund came up with six clusters of these entities for ease of management and for tracking performance.”
The clusters are: mineral or mining resources; agriculture and industrials; information and communication technology (ICT); transport and logistics; financial services and real estate; and energy and trading.“The fund appointed reputable accounting firms to conduct the valuation of assets under the management of the fund,” Dr Mangudya said.
The exercise has been completed and the market value of assets under the management of the fund is equivalent to US$16 billion, as at the end of June 2024.
“The fund’s board of directors has put in place a robust governance structure and board committees to ensure transparency in the operations of the fund and the valuation process of its assets.”
The asset valuation, he said, was important in providing transparency to both Zimbabwean citizens and potential investors
“The assets under the fund management are part of the gross domestic product of the country and would need to be transparently and accurately accounted for and managed by the fund,” he added.
“The fund has also put in place skilled and competent staff to execute its mandate of enhancing the financial and operational performance of the portfolio companies that it is managing.
“The fund is, therefore, up to the task to transform its investee companies for the betterment of the country and the Zimbabwean citizens.”
Huge asset portfolio
Mutapa is now ranked the fourth largest publicly owned asset managers on the continent that openly declare their assets holding, after Ethiopia’s Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA).
EIH is the largest sovereign wealth fund in Africa, with over US$150 billion in assets under management.
Further, LIA holds around US$67 billion in assets, largely sourced from Libya’s vast oil reserves. In comparison, the size of Mutapa’s portfolio dwarfs many of its regional counterparts, including Botswana’s Pula Fund, which is valued at US$5,3 billion; Angola’s Fundo Soberano de Angola, which holds US$2,98 billion in assets.
Namibia’s Welwitschia Fund’s asset holdings stand at US$15 million, while Mauritius’ Sovereign Wealth Fund is valued at around US$1,5 billion.
Mozambique’s Future Generations Sovereign Wealth Fund is not yet operational.
Leverage
In his State of the Nation address to Parliament last week, President Mnangagwa said the Government will leverage Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund to support the country’s development, mainly through exploitation of the country’s natural resources.
“The mining sector continues to attract favourable investment. Demand for new energy minerals is also growing with its associated opportunities for the country’s entry into the value chain industries,” he said.
“Mining houses in the gold and other precious minerals sector are called to scale up production. Assets under the sovereign wealth fund are envisioned to bolster performance and revenue from the mining and other sectors. The overarching goal is for the rich natural resource endowments of our beloved motherland to benefit all Zimbabweans.”
MIF’s diverse portfolio includes Kuvimba Mining House, a mining conglomerate with holdings in gold, lithium, nickel and platinum; National Railways of Zimbabwe; Air Zimbabwe; TelOne, a telecommunication services provider; Cottco, a cotton marketing firm; and Zupco, the national public transport company.
Additionally, the fund owns Defold Mine; National Oil Company of Zimbabwe; Cold Storage Company; Petrotrade; People’s Own Savings Bank; Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), the country’s power utility; Fidelity Gold Refinery; Homelink; and Arda Seeds.
Other assets include the Zimbabwe Power Company; PowerTel Communications; Allied Timbers; Telecel, a mobile network operator; Industrial Development Corporation, a development finance institution; and Hwange Colliery Company.
Overall, Mutapa was established last year as part of Government’s efforts to restructure its existing public investment assets and improve the management of State-owned enterprises.
It was created through the rebranding and transformation of the Zimbabwe Sovereign Wealth Fund, which had been established earlier in 2014 but had not reached its full potential.
Online Reporter