PAN-African financial services group Imara will be holding a “first in-country international investment conference” in Zimbabwe since the formation of the inclusive government.
The conference is scheduled to be held in Harare on June 29-30.
Imara said 40 international fund managers and analysts had confirmed their attendance at the unprecedented event at Meikles Hotel, Harare, while senior executives from 14 of Zimbabwe’s largest listed companies would make presentations.The conference will be opened by Zimbabwe Finance minister Tendai Biti.Imara Group chief executive Mark Tunmer said the quality and quantity of delegates signalled significant international investor appetite for a stake in Zimbabwe’s newly dollarised economy.Fund managers from the USA, UK and Europe will attend, including representatives of HBD Capital, Citigroup, Emerging Market Investment Managers and Progressive Developing Markets. Fund managers from South Africa, Botswana and Angola will also be there.Zimbabwe corporates making presentations represent more than half the capitalisation of the Harare exchange.Said Tunmer: “It is an honour for Imara – a financial services group rooted in Africa – to organise a conference such as this at this historic juncture.”“Investment professionals among the delegates represent African and emerging market funds with assets in excess of US$5 billion – a substantial sum in the context of present values on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.”“Dollarisation decimated corporate capital reserves denominated in Zimbabwe currency. International investment via the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange is therefore vital to the growth and development of the country’s biggest employers. The strong interest of overseas investment professionals could therefore not be more welcome,” Tunmer said. Keynote speaker (via video link) will be Professor Steve Hanke of the John Hopkins University, Baltimore, author of Zimbabwe: Hyperinflation to Growth. The conference has been organised by Imara Capital Zimbabwe and Imara Holdings Limited in association with New York-based stockbrokers, Auerbach Grayson, a company that collaborates with Imara to communicate the investment case for Zimbabwe to American investors. – Staff Writer.
