BK Capital recently launched a trust fund dubbed “Aguka Unit Trust Fund”. Aguka operates as an open-ended unit trust fund pooling funds from investors, investing and managing the money within a diversified portfolio on their behalf and distributing the profits regularly. Below are ten things prospective investors should know about the fund. 1. What is Aguka Unit Trust Fund? Aguka Unit Trust is a financial vehicle that allows the general public to pool their money in a ‘trust fund’ managed by professional fund managers who then invest the funds in a diversity of equities, bonds and other authorised investments. 2. Steps to invest in the fund Investing in an Aguka fund is pretty easy. Clients who wish to invest in the fund will fill the application /Know Your Customer (NYC) form and then pay for the units to be purchased into the funds account. The clients have to submit the payment slip and the filled form to the agent. The purchase confirmation will be sent to you by SMS or Email. 3. Ways of investing in the fund The investments may be done in different ways. They include lump sum investments where an investor has a lump sum amount (entire money available with the investor) to invest into a unit trust fund. Over a period of time, the initial investment will increase as income is earned by the fund. They also include regular savings means an investor may invest in unit trusts funds by making regular investments (e.g. monthly or quarterly) to their fund. Employee provident scheme investors may also invest into unit trust funds from their EPFs (Employees Provident Funds). EPFs are the schemes in which retirement benefits are accumulated. 4. Why you should invest in Aguka fund By investing through a unit trust, you can enjoy the benefits of having experts working on your behalf. The benefits of investing in unit trusts are diversification, professional management, liquidity and ease of transaction. Transaction costs are reduced through bulk dealing (involving large investments. Finally, unit trusts are liquid because units can be bought or sold on any working day. 5. What are the key questions to ask before investing? The key questions to ask before investing include: “Do you know your own investment objectives? Does the fund match your objectives and risk profile? Are you comfortable with the fund manager? Do you need financial advice? Are there fees?” 6. How does the unit price of Aguka fund behave? The unit price increases every day depending on the investments’ return as advised by BK Capital 7. How liquid is Aguka Unit Trust Fund? Investors can get access to their fund by giving a 48hours notice for amounts of 10million Frw and below and 1month notice for amount above Frw 10Million; however investors can still access their investments without prior notice and this will attract a small redemption fee. 8. Aguka performance since the launch? Currently, the unit price of Aguka is Rwf103.3262. When the fund was launched in October last year, the unit price was Rwf100, which means that the unit price has increased by 3.3262% in the last 4months. 9. What does it mean to have the unit price at Rwf103.3262? When you invest in the Aguka Unit Trust Fund, you bring an amount that is converted into units. The price of the unit increases on a daily basis while the number of units is constant. An investor can, of course, increase the number of units he or she holds. Whenever the investor credits the Aguka account, the amount will be converted into units using the unit price of that day. And when the investor decides to redeem (sell one’s shares), they will be able to sell back to the fund manager the unit he holds at the unit price of that day. 10. What does the yield of 10.9% mean to an investor? If the yield (return) published is 10.9%, this means that at the pace that the unit price is increasing by the end of this year, the investor can expect the value of his investment to increase by 10.9%.
