The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has announced its record of 87.4 percent 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.

MIIF recorded an annualized end-year return of 6.13 percent in 2022. The return was influenced by foreign exchange volatility and good treasury management of funds.

According to MIIF, the growth was primarily anchored on innovative strategies which led to increase in royalties’ income, expansion of royalty sources and investment income.

Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the fund, disclosed in an interview that MIIF mobilized relatively more than GH¢1.3 billion in 2021 and GH¢1.8 billion in 2022, representing a 36 percent 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.”
Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng

Mr. Koranteng in his speech noted that some of the agencies included 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.”
Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng

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, and 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 percent 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.

Expectation Of Excess Investments

According to Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng, the company, which invests the state’s share of mineral royalties in viable assets, is ready to invest in lithium and salt of up to $60 million and a small-scale mining incubation support programme of up to $60 million this year, 2023.

Not limited to that, he also disclosed that MIIF plans to develop a gold-backed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), with the support of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to be traded on the Ghanaian bourse and possibly the Johannesburg and Toronto stock exchanges.

Mr. Koranteng expressed optimism that MIIF would in a few years, become the lever that would help the country through volatile economic periods and offer the stability needed in the economy.

“MIIF will seek to diversify its funding and investment portfolio sources, including capital market transactions, a gold trade desk which has already been set up and which will definitely be a source of foreign exchange for the country.”
Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng

The MIIF CEO added that the fund would explore risk participation in high-yielding projects with top-grade financial institutions.

“We are a young fund, however, we are focused on getting it right. We plan to hit the $500 million AUM by January 2024 and $1 billion by 2027.”
Mr. Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng

Rounding up, he said the fund had made investments in Ashanti Gold and was also targeting some gold exploratory companies, lithium and salt as well as lithium by-products such as feldspar and silica to start the ceramics and fibre glass industry.