Bank Muscat Oryx Fund proposes highest ever dividend to its investors for FY 2022

Business Monday 13/March/2023 13:19 PM
By: Times News Service
Bank Muscat Oryx Fund proposes highest ever dividend to its investors for FY 2022

Muscat: Bank Muscat Oryx Fund continues to reward its investors with a growing stream of dividend distributions and capital growth.

The fund management body of Oryx Fund has proposed a dividend distribution of 68 baisas per unit to be paid to the unitholders for FY 2022, subject to requisite approvals from the unitholders and other competent authorities. Accordingly, the fund has maintained its track record of consistently growing dividend distributions despite a challenging market environment.

In addition to the regular income distributions through dividends, the fund has also been rewarding its investors with attractive capital appreciation since its inception in 1994.

The Oryx Fund delivered an average return of 12.7 per cent per annum to investors over the last 10 years which translates into an aggregate return of 230.5 per cent over this period, or in other words, an amount of OMR10,000 invested in Oryx Fund has grown to approximately OMR33,050 over the last 10 years, consisting of the original investment of OMR10,000 and investment gain (returns) of OMR23,050.

The return delivered by Oryx Fund over the last 10 years is significantly higher than average returns offered by alternatives over the same period like the MSX 30 Index 3.4 per cent per annum, S&P GCC Index 3.9 per cent per annum, MSCI Emerging Markets index 1.8 per cent per annum, gold negative 1.9 per cent per annum, Barclays Global Aggregate Bond index -0.4 per cent per annum and term deposits with commercial banks in Oman generally offering varied average interest rates up to 4% to 5% per annum. As such, the Oryx Fund stands out as an attractive investment choice for prospective investors with a medium to long-term view.

Furthermore, the Oryx Fund has delivered a positive performance of 5.8 per cent for the one year ended December 31, 2022, against a negative return of 7.1 per cent in its benchmark i.e. S&P GCC index. Backed by this strong performance, Oryx Fund has once again been recognised as the best-performing Mena equity fund by the reputed Citywire rankings for the year 2022. These rankings are based on the returns generated by the fund for its investors against approximately 20 other funds focusing on the Mena region during 2022.

The Bank Muscat Oryx Fund has won several accolades for generating wealth for its investors and for significant outperformance compared to peers. It has been top-rated by various renowned global fund reviewers such as Lipper, Mena Fund Manager and Emerging Market Finance.

The Oryx Fund represents an attractive investment proposition for long-term investors. The fund’s strategy to follow a bottom-up approach focused on the selection of quality stocks has been proven over various market cycles and time periods. The fund management team’s insights in the GCC region, quality of research across industries and sectors and knowledge of investee companies’ performance and future direction are the key factors that have enabled the fund to provide consistent and stable long-term returns to the investors.

An open-ended fund regulated by the Capital Market Authority, Oman, the Oryx Fund offers daily liquidity, providing flexibility to invest or redeem on any business day. Investors can subscribe to the fund with a minimum subscription amount as low as OMR50. Investors may also choose to invest every month by subscribing to Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) option. The fund’s NAV is published daily on the Bank Muscat website and Muscat Stock Exchange website so that investors can track the value of their investments daily. Interested investors may contact the fund’s Investor Servicing Desk at 24768064 or through email at [email protected] to understand the process to subscribe to the fund.

Recently, Bank Muscat also enabled subscriptions and redemptions of its mutual funds through its Internet and Mobile banking platforms for customers other than corporates and government institutions. This has eased the process of investment into Bank Muscat’s mutual funds for eligible investors as they are now able to complete the entire process of investing through online channels, making fresh investments and redeeming existing investments without the need to visit any branch or submit any documents or paper applications. Corporates and government institutions may approach their relationship managers' mutual fund investments.

Bank Muscat’s Asset Management business has a proven track record of successful operations for almost 29 years and is the largest asset manager in Oman and one of the leading asset managers in the GCC region, with approximately $2.5 billion of AUM. It offers tailored investment solutions across asset classes including equity, fixed income, real estate and private equity investments.