|
What is GIC?
The Ghana Investment Club (GIC) is a group formed for the purpose of investing its assets in, and acquiring, stocks, bonds and securities, etc. (hereinafter collectively referred to as stocks) of companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange or other businesses operating in Ghana for the benefit of its partners
What is the difference between a GIC member and a partner?
There is no difference. The terms may be used interchangeably but they have the same meaning for all practical purposes
Is GIC partnership open to anyone?
GIC partnership is limited to Ghanaians - anyone who was (or whose parents/grandparents were) born in Ghana irrespective of the person's current citizenship, and spouses of Ghanaians. Partners may have access to the Club message thread available through any electronic mail service. Application inquiries can be emailed to the Club via this mailbox: gicghana@yahoo.com. Since the Charter Partnership will be officially closed on, January 1st 2003 new partners will be accepted into the Club by majority approval of the current active partners. Prospective partners should ask to subscribe to club activities on our internet based list server and Make sure they understand the Articles of Partnership, before signing on
Does GIC have a website?
Yes, the URL is http://www.gicghana.com/
What are the Vision, Mission and Objectives of the GIC?
a. Vision:
The Ghana Investment Club, as a pre-eminent investment group initiated by
expatriate Ghanaians, seeks to encourage Ghanaians in all parts of the world to
play a meaning role in the development of Ghana, through committed investments
and asset management within the Ghanaian economy.
b. Mission
The Ghana Investment Club will endeavour to:
i. Establish and nurture a successful Ghanaian enterprise that will play a
meaningful role in growing the Ghanaian economy
ii. Develop an investment climate in which government would see the need to
promote Ghanaian interests over foreign interests with respect to investment
and participation in the economy of Ghana.
iii. Harness the accomplishments of foreign-based Ghanaians for the benefit of
their country of origin by encouraging their full participation in the Ghanaian
economy.
c. Objectives:
The initial objective of GIC was to reach a minimum of 100,000 GHcedis cash and
an achieve asset value of 500,000 GHcedis in 5 years. Subsequent objectives
include:
a. Reinvestment of all earnings
b. Investment in Growth Companies
c. Diversification of GIC portfolio.
Am I allowed to withdraw my investments in times of financial
Any partner may withdraw a part or all of the value of his/her capital account. Partners withdrawing a portion or all of the value of their capital account shall give written or confirmed electronic notice of such intention to the Club Officers and Club Partnership. In making payment to a partner, the valuation statement prepared for the last business day of the month in which written notice was received will be used to determine the value of the Partner's account. New partners may be admitted at any time, upon the consent of majority of the Partners. GIC does not directly handle anybody's cash. Neither does it invest anywhere but in Ghana. The GIC brokerage account operates in cedis only. Unless an individual has a foreign exchange trust account with Barclays bank and sent the money through this account, redemption of GIC units can be made only in cedis. Through a private arrangement with another partner or partners to transfer units, as has happened on more than one occasion, a partner can be able to receive dollars for his/her units.
What happens to partners investments after they die or becomeincapacitated?
In the event of the death or incapacitation of a partner, receipt of notice of
such event shall be treated as a notice of full withdrawal. Liquidation and
payment of the partner's account shall proceed in accordance with paragraphs 16
& 18 of the GIC's constitution
How is GIC Managed?
Each partner shall contribute to the management and conduct of the affairs of the Club. Except otherwise determined, all decisions shall be made by a majority vote of the partners. The Club follows routine guidelines agreed upon by its partnership and detailed in the club's constitution and other guidelines
May I reference GIC in my personal business?
This is branded as
Forbidden acts. No partner shall:
a. Have the right or authority to bind or obligate the Club to any extent
whatsoever with regard to any matter outside the scope of the Club business.
b. Without the unanimous consent of all the other Partners, assign, transfer,
pledge, mortgage, sell all/part of his/her interest in the Club to any other
partner (or other person whomever), enter into any agreement as the result of
which any person or persons not a partner shall become interested with that
partner in the Club.
c. Purchase an investment for the Club where less than the full purchase price
is paid for the same.
d. Use the Club name, credit or property for other than authorized Club
purposes.
e. Do any act detrimental to the interests of the Club or which would make it
impossible to carry on the business or affairs of the Club.
f. Accept money or property from non-partners for the purposes of investment
through the Club.
g. Do anything illegal with regard to activities or interests of the Club. Each
partner/partner shall contribute to the management and conduct of the affairs
of the Club. Except as otherwise determined, all decisions shall be made by a
majority vote of the partners. The Club follows routine guidelines agreed upon
by its partnership as detailed in the club constitution and other guidelines
How are GIC expenses covered?
All Club expenses will be authorized by a majority vote of the active partners of GIC. All partners of the Club will share all club expenses equally. (It is expected that these expenses will be Brokers fees and taxes). Because GIC does not keep an account, all non-broker expenses (e.g. website hosting/maintenance, eFax fees) will be paid by 1-3 willing current partners when needed. In return, the current partners will receive GIC units based on the lower of GIC unit price on the first day of current year and the date the payment is made.
Who decides what stocks or bonds to purchase?
Voting Procedure For Stock Purchases The President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary or designated Partner, will post the applicable voting agenda for stock purchase on or about the 1st of each month, closing out the voting process with the agreement of the majority of the Club partnership. Once majority vote is reached, the execution of said results will occur immediately after the majority vote has been achieved. The stock with the most votes each month is the chosen purchase. However, any partner may resubmit a favorite stock the following month to the Club if they choose to do so. Heavy message thread involvement discussing your choices and supporting data will go a long way towards persuading others to see its potential value before voting.
Recommended Requirements for Posting A Stock for Consideration. The following are suggested perimeters:
a. Current P/E below 5 Year Historical Average P/E
b. Good dividend record.
c. Be a Growth Company: 5 Years of Rising EPS partnership.
d. An attractive Initial Public Offering (IPO) on GSE, with relevant details for decision making.
How does GIC account for my investments?
Each calendar year, a full and
complete account of the condition of the Club shall be made to the Partners by
the Treasurer. A monthly valuation statement will list all GIC assets, at cost
and market values, a listing of each partner's ownership values and liabilities
of the Club as of the last business day of the month. The year-end statement
will reflect distributions of dividends, interest, short and long term capital
gains, interest income and expenses for the year by total and by individual
partners' listing. It will detail the portfolio reflecting lots of all shares
bought & sold, their purchase price and date and the portfolios current
market value. All Club expenses will be authorized by a majority vote of the
active partners of GIC
As a partner how do I know how much my investment in GIC is?
There shall be maintained in the name of each partner, a Capital Account. Any increase or decrease in the Value of the Club on any valuation date shall be credited or debited, respectively, to each Partner's capital account in the proportion to the sum of all Partner capital accounts on said date. Any other method of valuing each Partner's capital account may be substituted for this method provided that said substituted method results in exactly the same valuation as provided herein. Each Partner's capital contribution to, or capital withdrawal from, the Club shall be credited, or debited, respectively, to that Partner's capital account
How may I be signed up for the GIC investment Ghana Commercial Bank and other profitable venture into the future?
I'll invest $1,000.00. We Ghanaians in Washington State established an investment club six years ago and have been dabbling in the stock market for a while. We are also interested in investing between $5,000 to $10,000 collectively. The investment club is called Ghanaian Investment Venture (GIVE). The partners would like to have more financial data on Ghana Commercial Bank. Can you offer me any assistance in this area? I wish you and you loved ones good health and prosperity in 2003.
-
Please write to GCB for a copy of the latest Annual report, email: gcbmail@gcb.com.gh. The website is www.gcb.com.gh. GCB has been a profitable enterprise and pays dividends consistently. The only concern is its loan exposure to Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), largely due to government interference. If government has guaranteed these loans, (something we still have to find out) then there is no problem and GCB then meets all criteria for being regarded as a Blue chip stock within the Ghana market. It is hoped that this information is helpful. GIC strongly believes in investing in the Ghanaian market.
- As an Invest club GIVE cannot invest in GIC. For now GIC is designed for individuals. Any of GIVE partners are welcome to invest in the GIC as individuals.
- If GIVE wishes to invest, GIC will be happy to refer it to Databank or Security Discount Company (SDC), the brokerage firms GIC is using.
- Please click http://www.gicghana.com/ and click "How to become a GIC Partner" for partnership details. For an example of how well the Ghanaian market has performed, please access Databank website (http://www.databankgroup.com/Internet2/default.asp) and click "Epack Investment Fund". At GIC, we expect to match this performance, at the very minimum
How do I transfer funds into GIC account?
GIC has accounts with Databank Brokerage and SDC Brokerages. To transfer your money to Databank or SDC for a Ghana Investment Club account, bring a copy of a Remittance Instruction document to your bank. Nobody should send money, prior to informing the executives, so that Databank or SDC can be informed to expect the money, ahead of time. The paper work by the bank would be of the nature of the Outgoing payment document. When you use this facility the money arrives in the GIC account within 3 to 4 working days. If you send a bank draft, it may take 6 to 8 weeks for the draft to clear, after Databank or SDC receives it. Download a copy of the above documents:
Where are we in terms of the club? I am ready to send a portion of $1,000
GIC is up and running. A number of partners have transferred money to the GIC accounts with Databank and SDC. We have raised more than one hundred thousand dollars. Currently, the money has been used to purchase T-Bills yielding close to 17% P.A, tax exempt. You will have to complete the Partnership Agreement form and fax it to 1-609-924-2822. The minimum investment is US$1,000.00
Who are the GIC officers and what are their roles?
Effective Jan 1st 2009
President: Ben Wiredu - ben_w685@yahoo.ca
Acting Vice-President: Bonaparte Kwesi Armah - betty_barmah@comcast.net
Acting Secretary: Ben Wiredu - oseidz@yahoo.com
Treasurer: Bonaparte Kwesi Armah - barmah@comcast.net
The duties for GIC Officers are:
a. President
Will oversee all club operations. This may include requesting and posting stock specialist rosters from volunteers, soliciting new Club partners, performing action as the liaison between the Club and outside contacts as required, maintaining Club web sites, determining the Club operations time table, assembling and submitting voting topics to the Club partnership, validating voting tabulations, submitting broker instructions, acting as moderators and any other action deemed to be in the best interest of the Club
b. Vice-President
Will assist the president in his duties, and act as President, when the President is not able to function, or the position of President become open, until a new President is elected.
c. Treasurer
Will handle all financial aspects for the club at the direction of the Club majority and the President or Vice-President. The Treasurer will keep records of the Clubs current stock portfolio, Club partner payments, valuations, disbursements and partners interest as designated in the Partnership Agreement. The Treasurer will be responsible for all accounting reports as required by section #4 (of the Partnership Agreement) herein and upload the monthly valuation statements, year end valuation reports and necessary tax information to the Club message thread. Each succeeding year, the President will, in December, solicit nominations from the general partnership for new officers, or if desired by partnership majority, acknowledge that the current officers will continue for another year.
d. Secretary
Will assist the Treasurer and perform, in the absence of the Treasurer.
e. Partners
All Club partners will check in at least monthly and attempt to actively participate in the Club operations through the message thread. Partners should assume role responsibilities such as Research Chairman, Portfolio or Individual Stock Specialist or Market News Specialist. Further, GIC partners are expected to post constructive comments about Club Operations, legitimate investment opportunities and to make regular and timely payments to the Treasurer
How are GIC conflicts resolved?
Any and all disputes or differences arising out of or in connection with this Partnership Agreement or partnership in the Club shall first be addressed by all Club partners through good faith negotiations, failing which recourse shall be had to mediation or other third party assistance process that may be agreed upon by the partners. All such disputes or differences which cannot be so resolved shall be finally settled by binding arbitration
I am interested in buying GIC units for my minor children. I do
not see any age limitation in the partnership agreement besides being a
Ghanaian or with Ghanaian (grand)parent. If I were to acquire these units for X
minor children, would I be entitled to as many votes as my own plus my kids?
GIC has no problems with an adult partner buying GIC units for their minor children, nothing in our Constitution bars this. So long as the minors are in the Register as partners, they can exercise the vote or their (grand)parent adult can do so on their behalf
If a GIC prospect remits money to Databank for GIC investment and
he or she is rejected by GIC partnership, can he or she seek full refund in
remitted currency plus remittance expense and interest lost on the investment?
GIC informs people who want to be Partners, to send money to Databank. However a person must not assume that by sending money to Databank, without the green light from GIC, will automatically make him/her a Partner, without prior advice to do so, by GIC. Without this green light, GIC will not know what is going on. It will be up to the individual, in this case to recover his or her money from Databank without GIC involvement
How many GIC units do I receive when I invest with the club and when are these units credited to my account?
A new GIC partner is credited with GIC's current month unit upon acknowledgement of such remittance in Databank's month-end client statement. For example, GIC receives Databank’s client statement for June in early July. This statement will show that on June 2nd, a remittance for a prospective GIC partner X was received. In line with its valuation (see section 7 of constitution), GIC will then allocate units to Partner X based on its end-of-June unit value.
However, it is possible that prospective partner Y's instructions to his/her bank to remit funds to Databank through Barclays may not be successfully completed (e.g. the remitting bank wrote down the wrong account or routing number for the receiving bank). In this case, there is nothing one can do.
It is also always possible that indeed the money was successfully transferred to Barclays Bank and Databank’s account was credited a few months before GIC was notified. Let us take, for example, that Prospective partner Y's remittance as credited to Databank's account on June 2nd. However, because of a breakdown in Databank's own accounting system, they did not discover the funds or they did but did not notify GIC that they have received the funds until October 30th. If we can confirm that Databank had the money since June 2nd, then GIC will credit the Partner from the June ending evaluation date.
Then there is a third scenario, as with a prospective partner giving a personal cheque to Databank. That person will not be credited with GIC units until Databank’s bankers have cleared the personal cheque. This process usually takes up to 6 weeks to clear and the person will not be credited until GIC has been advised as to when the funds were received.
To wrap all this up, GIC will assign units as soon as it has been notified by Databank that they have received remittance on GIC’s behalf, on the based on the value of units as of the end of month in which the money was actually credited to the account of databank
What is ROI?
ROI is Return On Investment. It may be positive or negative. When the investment grows within a specified period, the ROI is deemed to be positive. Conversely, if the value falls the ROI is deemed as negative. ROI is not static, but may vary, depending on when the investment is made and what the market conditions over the specified period.
|
