UPDATED: Good news – MET CI guarantees unit trust owners, but…..

MET CI chief Kevin Hinton - scrambling to put distance between his company and Ponzi kingpin Cobus Kellermann
MET CI chief Kevin Hinton – guarantees the Clarus funds, emphasises his business has no business interests with Cobus Kellermann

For the first time since we’ve been covering the ugly saga of Cobus Kellermann, David Cosgrove, Belvedere et al, here’s some good news. MET CI, the white labelled unit trust subsidiary of the MMI Group, today effectively guaranteed the money that unit holders have invested into any of the Clarus-managed unit trusts. The statement below from the company says it has investigated the situation and concludes the money is where it should be. In the last set of fund reports there was a total of R1.35bn held in MET CI funds. One thing really troubles me though. The last line of the statement states “MetCI again reiterates that it has no business association with Mr Kellermann and any of his businesses.” This suggests there is still work required at the company to join the dots. The Armstrong Global Diversified Fund which it refers to in the context of its MET CI branded offshore fund, forms part of the Trinity Global fund, which is managed by Lancelot Management, which is part owned by Kellermann (and was closed down by the Mauritius authorities). And now comes news from the Financial Services Board that Kellermann is a substantial shareholder of Contego which has a number of funds operating under the MET CI umbrella. Suggestion to MET CI: before making absolute statements, it might help to the trail to its conclusion.   – Alec Hogg  

From MET CI:

This communication should be read in conjunction with the statement released on 24 March 2015 regarding various media reports about MET Collective Investments RF Proprietary Limited (“MetCI”) and Clarus Asset Managers Proprietary Limited (“Clarus”).

MetCI would like to take this opportunity to confirm the following:

  • The process to validate the asset holdings with the trustees and custodians in their respective jurisdictions has been successfully completed and MetCI is satisfied with the outcome.
  • Independent trustees and custodians of the funds listed below, such as Standard Bank Trustees, have confirmed that all assets are held with reputable local and offshore investment securities and funds.
  • This further demonstrates that the interests of unit holders are protected under the Collective Investments Scheme’s governance and sound regulatory framework.
  • The MetCI investigation has revealed that unit holders invested in the funds listed below have not been compromised as per the recent allegations regarding Mr Cobus Kellermann.
  • Clarus MET Equity Value Fund
  • Clarus MET Optimal Fund
  • Clarus MET Property Fund
  • Clarus MET Real Income Fund
  • Clarus MET Wealth Accumulator Fund of Funds
  • Clarus MET Wealth Creator Fund of Funds
  • Clarus MET Wealth Preserver Fund of Funds
  • MET Global Diversified Feeder Fund
  • MetCI further confirms that the MET Global Diversified Feeder Fund, via the Armstrong Global Diversified Fund, holds its assets with the following investment managers: Contrarious, Coronation, Nedgroup, Prescient, Sanlam, STANLIB, Franklin Templeton and Investec.
  • MetCI would therefore like to caution unit holders not to act indiscriminately based on unsubstantiated reports in relation to their investments in the Clarus MET funds and the MET Global Diversified Feeder Fund.
  • MetCI again reiterates that it has no business association with Mr Kellermann and any of his businesses.

 

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