Weston Oil and Gas Fund launched


A new mutual fund that will help develop the country’s oil and gas industry has been launched in Accra.

Known as the Weston Oil and Gas (WOG) Fund, the general public and investors can purchase the initial offer at Zenith Bank branches across the country.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Biz portal, the CEO of Weston Capital, Rex Kontor said the investment firm wanted to make the fund easier and more accessible for prospective investors.

“One step forward that we have taken is that we have concluded an arrangement with zenith bank where now shares can be purchased from all their branches across the country,” he told The Biz portal.

He said it was prudent for Weston Capital to first engage Zenith bank who are the custodians of the WOG Fund and hinted of plans to engage other banks, particularly the Ghanaian banks.

Touching on the performance of the WOG Fund so far, Rex Kontor said the response has been ‘very encouraging.’

“We appreciate the overwhelming interest that we’ve had all across the country; and even places like South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. We didn’t think that a cedi product like this was going to get this level of interest from international investors but it has been an over whelming kind of interest from people that are prepared to invest from outside,” he added.

The WOG Fund is an open ended mutual fund which is approved, licensed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It seeks to achieve growth in income and capital, by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of listed equities and fixed income instruments.

Weston Capital believes the new fund will build on the firm’s strategy of investing in growth opportunities within the oil and gas industry and its support services.

The firm is continuing with its fundraising activity and expects to reach its initial target size of GH¢50m within the first 12 months.

The WOG Fund is open to the general public and institutional investors.

The Initial Public Offer was opened last Wednesday 20th August 2014 and will end next week Wednesday September 10th 2014. Shares are priced at 20pesewas per share during the IPO period.

  Story by Ghana/ The Biz portal/ Frank Owusu-Ofori

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