Shareholders of First Fund demand locked up funds

“My daughter is on my neck for her money. I've not recouped any benefit on the investment after so many years, and as I speak, I cannot trace the managers of the fund. My retirement years have been saddled with misery and suffering.”

These were the words of 76-year-old Benjamin Gyapong when he decried his locked-up investment at First Fund Limited, a defunct investment firm, in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.

Mr Gyapong, a pensioner, said he invested a large amount of money with First Fund more than three years ago on behalf of her daughter, who is based in London, with the expectation that the investment would attract some interest to support his livelihood.

He said following a revocation of the licence of First Fund by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), TTL Capital was appointed last year to manage the funds.

According to Mr Gyapong, although customers were assured that their investments were safe with the new fund manager, he was still unable to access his investment, adding that all efforts to get in touch with the new managers to assess the status of the investment had also proved futile.

Over 24,000 investors affected

The pensioner is among more than 24,000 shareholders whose investments have been locked up at First Fund, with a total investment of about GH¢170 million.

The SEC, in November 2019, withdrew the licences of 53 fund management companies as part of sweeping measures to sanitise the securities and fund management sector.

The regulator subsequently directed the boards of directors for Mutual Funds and Trustees for Unit Trusts of Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) whose managers had their licences revoked to  appoint new fund managers for the management of the CIS by January 10, 2020.

In a release published by the SEC in May last year, it announced that TTL Capital had been appointed to manage both First Fund and the Firstbanc Heritage Fund Limited.

No engagement

Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, a Coordinator for the Concerned Shareholders of First Fund, Mr Michael Kwablah, said the customers were not consulted prior to the appointment of TTL Capital by the Board of Directors of First Fund.

“After the appointment of TTL, investors never had any feedback until September when they sent a notification of an emergency general meeting to be held on 30th September, 2020. At the said meeting, investors didn’t reach an agreement with the board due to the fact that the board did not provide any document whatsoever for their study and decisions to be made,” he said.

He further noted that on March 31, 2020, managers of the fund notified the members through text messages that a meeting would be held on 28th April, 2021.

He said days leading to the date stated by managers of the fund, the members requested for reports to be studied ahead of the meeting, a request which was yet to be granted.

Appeal

The aggrieved shareholders appealed to SEC to, among others, dissolve the board of First Fund and reconstitute an interim board to steer the affairs of the firm.

They also appealed to the regulator to compel TTL Capital to operationalise the fund and start redemption to shareholders, with a minimum of 60 per cent of their funds.

“We also want the regulator to appoint new fund managers capable of running the affairs of the fund, who will have no dealings, nor owe any allegiances to any member of the board whatsoever,” Mr Kwablah added.

Highlight

Some concerned shareholders of the defunct First Fund Limited have appealed to the Securities and Exchange Commission to, among others, dissolve the board of the First Fund Capital and reconstitute an interim board to steer the affairs of the firm.