THE Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has committed N$700 million to Catalyst Investment Managers, which recently became the fund’s third incubation asset manager.
Catalyst is a six-member private investment management firm founded by Brown Amuenje, who doubles as the founder and portfolio manager.
Former Namibia University of Science and Technology chancellor Tjama Tjivikua is the chairperson of the board of directors of Catalyst, which was founded in 2017, while economist James Cumming and Jerome Davis are the other members of the three-member board.
Catalyst, according to GIPF, is founded on the premise of placing clients’ interests first and providing Namibians the opportunity to manage their own money.
This incubation programme was established by GIPF in 2019 to address the need for active beneficial participation of Namibian professionals in the asset management industry, expand on their capacity and bring in expertise with the necessary skills to mainstream asset management.
GIPF has set aside N$4,2 billion to be invested with six incubated asset managers. Mumi Investments and Arysteq Asset Managers got their allocations last year and this year.
Leevi Tshoopara, the GIPF listed investments manager, says the incubation programme is meant to emulate other large asset owners in the region that have embarked on similar initiatives to empower their own investment professionals to enter the industry and to become active market participants.
“When successful, this programme will open opportunities in the future for more entrants into the industry, therefore, completing the investment eco-system loop between asset owners, asset management companies, and the stock market,” he said.
GIPF said Catalyst was appointed following a rigorous tender process that was conducted by an investment consultant in collaboration with the GIPF management and the board.
“Catalyst is walking alongside the GIPF in this endeavour. Our hope is that most investors, clients and asset owners will emulate the work of the GIPF,” said Amuenje.
Despite being a newcomer to the local investment landscape, the Catalyst Investment philosophy and process ensured that the GIPF portfolio performed above benchmark, with a net value of N$845 million, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic that caused panic and losses during the market downturn of 2020.
The firm’s investment philosophy is based on investing in companies that earn a high return on invested capital; investing in companies that have low-to-very little debt, and investing in companies that are managed by prudent capital allocators that are focused on returning value to shareholders.
“The tenure of the programme is five years upon which we will evaluate the overall performance of the asset managers. However, to minimise risks associated with performance during the period, the GIPF tracks the monthly performance reports of these asset managers and also conducts an internal operational due diligence mid-way through the programme. This allows the GIPF to flag issues of concern and remedy them. Ultimately, this requires a more hands-on approach to other conventional asset managers, but it assures the fund that it has better insight of the asset managers’ performance during the programme period,” added Tshoopara.
Email: bottomline@namibian.com.na
