CMA approves registration of Centum Unit Trust Fund

Nairobi, April 9, 2014… The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has granted consent for registration of Centum Unit Trust Fund as a Collective Investment Scheme in accordance with section 30 of the Capital Markets Act and Part II of the Capital Markets (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations, 2001.

Centum Asset Managers Limited, the fund manager responsible for the collective investment scheme noted that the fund would venture into other African markets so as to offer superior returns to investors as African economies were on a faster growth path at between five and seven percent compared to other continents in the world. Four sub-funds are covered under the approval namely: Africa Equity Fund, Africa Balanced Fund, Africa Fixed Income Fund and Africa Money Market Fund.

In the period between 2009 and 2014, the company invested more than 50 percent of its portfolio outside Kenya.

According to the Capital Markets Act, a collective investment scheme includes an investment company, a unit trust, a mutual fund or other scheme which is incorporated or organized under the laws of Kenya which collects and pools funds from the public or a section of the public for the purpose of investment; or is managed by or on behalf of the scheme by the promoter of the scheme. It also includes an umbrella scheme whose shares are split into a number of different class schemes or sub-schemes, each of which is managed by or on behalf of a common promoter.

In a statement released to newsrooms, the Authority noted that the approval to register Centum Unit Trust Fund was issued following the Fund’s compliance with the provisions of the relevant capital markets regulations. Once registered, this will bring the number of approved collective investment schemes to 18.