Dionisia Tabureguci
Kontiki Growth Fund Ltd

A lot has been happening at Kontiki Growth Fund, the new private equity investment company run by a very young team and with a board membership comprising some prominent names like Kalivati Bakani, Jesoni Vitusagavulu and Hari Punja. Not to mention the long-time crusaders and believers in Fiji’s capital markets—Jack Lowenstein, George Niumataiwalu and John Courtney.

KGF may not have scored among the top active stocks but that does not mean it’s idle either.

Its newest announcement just before this edition went to press may be a pointer of things to come.

After an oversubscribed IPO in December 2004 where it raised $3.5 million, it wasted no time in getting its investment plans into gear and is now an equity partner in a number of privately owned companies like Savusavu Harbourside Ltd, Unwired Fiji, Halabe Investments and Kontiki Fund Ltd.

Mid-last month, it announced a Net Asset Backing(NAB) of $1.0278 per share for the period ending December 31, 2005 so it is understandable why large trades have been going on for this stock during our month under review. A total of 93,800 or around 38 percent of total shares were traded and most traded at $1.03 per share.

“With the likes of Lowenstein, Courtney and Niumataiwalu backing it, KGF will act as a vehicle to get some of these private companies to go public.

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FSB taken to task

FijiStockbrokers (FSB) Ltd came short of being suspended during the month for allegedly breaching the CMDA Broker Conduct Guidelines. Market sources say CMDA had taken the brokerage house to task in relation to it being an intermediary for Commonwealth Bank Association shares, which it had been doing since 2000. This year, CMDA decided FSB had breached the guidelines because it was making money out of the exchange gain involved in the transaction.