Retail Investors
WHAT IS UNIT TRUST?
These units belong to you until you decide to sell them. Your money is combined with that of other investors who have bought units in that unit trust. Experienced investment managers use the pool of money to buy securities such as money markets, fixed income instruments, cash, property, shares or a combination of these on the local or foreign markets, depending on the type of unit trust. How much your investment grows depends on the performance of these assets. You can buy more units whenever you want to and you can leave the value of your units to grow.
You can invest in unit trusts for most of your financial goals, from saving longer term needs to meeting shorter-term objectives.
- To benefit from our investment expertise, you need a minimum of just K500 to start your investment journey and set up a regular standing order per month. You can also start with an initial lump sum of K20,000 or more and add to your investment at any time with a minimum additional amount of K500.
- The unit trust have competitive yields with safeguards that have been built over time in line with consistent investment strategies being pursued by the Investment managers. Our philosophy is anchored on wealth management through value investing and capital preservation. We believe our clients work hard for their money, and that is why we ensure we reward them every day.
- You can access your money as outlined per your chosen unit trust and are allowed to make changes to your investment portfolio whenever you need to without incurring any transaction fees. Investors are allowed to switch their investment portfolios across different unit trusts in line with their investment goals. Investment statements are provided on a quarterly basis to allow investors to track the performance of their investments.
- Each unit trust is compelled by law to appoint a trustee who holds the assets for the beneficial interests of the unit holders. The trustee is usually a bank or financial institution that is not affiliated with the unit trust company or the investment manager. This means that if anything happens to the unit trust company or the investment manager, your investment will not be affected. This means that if anything happens to the investment manager, your investment will not be affected.
Unit trusts make money for you in three ways:
Income
The underlying investments may earn interest, dividend or rental income. Depending on the type of unit trust, the interest and dividends earned by units may be paid out to investors or may be reinvested, increasing the value earned by investors.
Capital Growth
The value (price) of the shares or underlying investments may increase and may be sold for more than the price at which they were bought. Unit trusts can however, lose money if the prices of the underlying investments fall. It is therefore best not to invest in unit trusts using money that you may need at short notice. This is because if you have no choice but to sell your investment when you need the money, you run the risk of making a loss if the market, and therefore your investment is down.
Reduced Cost of Investment
Unit trusts are cost effective and optimize investment options available to individual. They thus reduce excessive amount of costs charged for investment advisory to individual investors. Additionally, transactions conducted are free of any transaction fees and no regular maintenance fees are charged to the account.
Choose a unit trust that suits your needs. Get started by growing your portfolio without too much risk and enjoy increased investment guidance along your investment journey. Unit Trusts are wellregulated, simple to understand and require relatively small investment amounts to get started.
Explore our Unit Trusts options
1. Money Market Fund
| What should you use this Unit Trust for? | Our flagship unit trust and most stable unit trust, offering preservation and accessibility over the very short term. Aims to generate a sound level of income and achieve higher returns than a bank deposit. |
| What does this unit trust invest in? | Invests in regulated Zambian money market instruments issued by government, corporates and banks. |
| Minimum recommended Investment Period. | None. It is suited for short term investing i.e. a year or less as return is unlikely to keep up with inflation. |
| Management Fees | 4.5% per annum. |
2. Balanced Fund
| What should you use this Unit Trust for? | This Unit Trust Offers steady long term investment returns. It balances Capital growth, income generation and investment risks. |
| What does this unit trust invest in? | Invests in regulated Zambian Fixed Income instruments issued by government, Corporates as well as Commercial Banks. |
| Minimum recommended Investment Period. | 1-3 years. To maximize the benefit of investing you need to stay invested over the long term, through periods of fluctuation. It is good for growth investments. |
| Management Fees | 2.53% per annum. |
3. US Dollar Fund
| What should you use this Unit Trust for? | This unit trust offers preservation of US Dollar denominated capital and accessibility over the very short term by generating sound level of income higher than returns in a US Dollar bank account. |
| What does this unit trust invest in? | Invests in regulated Zambian money market US Dollar denominated securities issued by Financial and other Corporate Institutions. |
| Minimum recommended Investment Period. | None. It is suited for short term Investing i.e. a year or less as returns remain above Libor. |
| Management Fees | 1.15% per annum |
4. ZMW High Yield Fund
| What should you use this Unit Trust for? | To mirror the 365 day T-bill or the long term bond yield curve by locking in funds in long term buckets whilst limiting redemptions to only once every after 12 months. |
| What does this unit trust invest in? | It invests in Treasury Bills, Government Bonds and longer tenor regulated money market securities. |
| Minimum recommended Investment Period. | 1 year. Suited for high value clients seeking to optimize returns. |
| Management Fees | 2.1% per annum |
5. USD High Yield Fund
| What should you use this Unit Trust for? | To mirror the 364 Libor Rate + 250 basis points. |
| What does this unit trust invest in? | Invests in regulated Zambian US Dollar denominated money market securities. |
| Minimum recommended Investment Period. | 1 year. Suited for high value US Dollar clients seeking to optimize returns. |
| Management Fees | 1.15% per annum |
6. Equity Fund
| What should you use this Unit Trust for? | Provide investors with competitive and sustainable risk adjusted returns over the medium to long term by investing in Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) listed equities. |
| What does this unit trust invest in? | Our investment mandate is such that we invest 70% in Equity and 30% in money markets. Exposure to shares will not exceed 75% of the fund at any point in time. |
| Minimum recommended Investment Period. | 5 years. Ideal for investors seeking exposure to the LuSE by drawing on a balanced stock portfolio. |
| Management Fees | 4.14% per annum |
- ABC Unit Trust Brochure (PDF: 1Mb)
- Unit Prices (April – July 2020) (XLSX: 78kb)
- ABC Unit Trust 2019 Annual Report (PDF: 24,6 Mb)