Mutapa Investment Fund has US$16 billion worth of assets under management, according to John Mangudya, CEO of Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund.
Mangudya told the Sunday Mail that Mutapa in June completed a “comprehensive diagnostic assessment” of its portfolio. “The fund appointed reputable accounting firms to conduct the valuation of assets under the management of the fund,” Mangudya said. The firms have not been named.
Mutapa holds state-owned interests spanning mining, agriculture, ICT, transport, banks, real estate, energy and trading. Companies under Mutapa include include the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, TelOne, Cottco and Defold Mine – which now holds mining assets that were once under the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation. Mutapa also controls the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, Petrotrade, POSB, ZESA, and Fidelity, the country’s sole gold refinery, the Zimbabwe Power Company, PowerTel, Allied Timbers, Telecel and Hwange Colliery.
In June, Mutapa received a 2023 dividend of an equivalent of US$2.2m NOIC. POSB delivered a dividend of US$590,000 for the first quarter of 2024.
Mutapa’s largest asset is Kuvimba Mining House, whose valuation has been questioned after a share sale last year that added to domestic debt.
The government loaned the Mutapa Investment Fund US$1.6 billion to buy a 35% stake in Kuvimba. That transaction implies a US$4.5 billion valuation for the mining company. The 35% stake was reportedly held by a “management consortium”, but no disclosures have been made. Kuvimba was formed from government mining assets and mining operations previously held by businessman Kuda Tagwirei.
Ethiopian Investment Holdings is Africa’s largest sovereign wealth fund, with assets under management of US$150 billion, according to the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, which monitors such funds globally. The Ethiopian fund holds over 30 state companies, including flagship enterprises such as Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom. The company has recently announced plans to list Ethio Telecom, the Ethiopian Insurance Corporation, and the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise.
Mutapa’s claimed asset value would place it at par with the wealth funds of oil producing Algeria, and it would be bigger than similar funds in Angola. In the region, Botswana’s Pula Fund and Namibia’s Welwitschia Fund focus mostly on helping government manage monetary policy and offsetting budget deficits.
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To justify share sale, Govt insists Kuvimba is worth US$4.5 billion. But we have questions
