CI Asset Management (CIAM) aims to launch an investment fund in precious metals early next year. Amr Abol-Enein, CEO and Managing Director of the CIAM, the asset management arm of CI Capital, revealed that his company is in the final stages of launching a precious metal investment fund during 2023. The fund will be named CI. Abol-Enein told Daily News Egypt that the fund comes within a plan to launch three funds next year. The new funds are expected to be cash funds, one to be managed by CI Capital, and the other will be managed on behalf of a private bank operating in Egypt. The company is negotiating to acquire the management of a number of portfolios for the benefit of governmental and private institutions during the coming period. Portfolios represent about 50% of the total assets under management before the company's merger. CI Capital plans to merge with Misr Capita, a subsidiary of Banque Misr, and has reached the final stages of the merger. CIAM had assets under management of about EGP 14.5bn in the first half of this year. This volume will double upon completion of the merger, to become one of the largest asset managers in the East The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. Earlier, Banque Misr approved a plan to merge Misr Capital with CI Capital, after acquiring a stake of about 90% of the latter last year. According to the official website of Misr Capital, the volume of assets under the management of Misr Capital amounts to about EGP 40bn while the volume of assets under the management of CI reaches about EGP 15bn, which means that the volume of assets under management after the merger has risen to more than EGP 55bn. Meanwhile, CI Capital launched the investment fund "Misr Equity" on Monday to track equities with cumulative return and a correlation coefficient of about 90% on EGX30 Capped, indicating that the correlation coefficient will range between 90-95%. The subscription to the fund's documents will stand at EGP 10 per share, while the minimum subscription is 10 documents, provided that the subscription window was opened Monday. The product serves investors wishing to achieve returns from a certain type of assets that follow a stock market index, and it will serve as an investment basis for upcoming investment products. Tarek Shaheen, head of the investment sector at CI Capital, said that the launch of the Misr Equity Fund aims to create new investment opportunities and products. Shaheen added during a press conference held by the company to announce the launch of the Misr Equity Fund, that it will allow portfolio managers the sectoral representation that investors are looking for, and an optimal solution for diversified portfolio managers. Shaheen explained that there is a risk ratio in this type of investment compared to the expected returns, pointing out that the investment policy targets the same sector representation of the main index of the Egyptian Stock Exchange with a correlation index ranging between 90% as a minimum, and up to 95% . He pointed out that 10% of the fund will be directed to invest in bonds and treasury bills, noting that margins will not be opened on investment fund documents. In a related context, Ayman Amer, head of the investment group for stocks at the CIAM, said that the fund aims to seize investment opportunities in the Egyptian market in light of the decrease in the profit multiplier of the Egyptian market to about 5 times, compared to 11 times for emerging markets, and 14 times for global markets. Amer added that with the liberalization of exchange rates, and the approach of reaching an agreement on the IMF loan, it is expected that the 2016 scenario, in which the main index achieved at that time more than 50%, will be repeated, and the market is witnessing high growth, which is the main reason behind the launch of the Fund at the present time.
