J#30 – Why I Bought More Twiga Cement shares; and Some Answers
to Your Questions About our Fund

Why I Bought More Twiga Cement shares

As most readers would know, I am a huge believer in Twiga Cement in Tanzania as an investment.

Not only does it provide a history of high, double-digit dividend yields, it has a strong management team appointed by Heidelberg Cement (a global leader in the cement industry), a solid balance sheet (no debt), and attractive operating margins. 

Moreover, one big reason behind its high dividend payout ratio year in and year out is its large insider shareholding composition. The only way Heidelberg, which owns nearly 70% of the company’s shares is able to get money out is to pay itself dividends. Is there a better way to boost investor confidence than the executives and majority owners having their own skin in the game?

For a copy of my investment research report on Twiga Cement, please visit this url.

On a macro basis, the demand for cement in Tanzania remains strong.  I expect a bumper year for revenues this year.  Demand for cement is exceeding supply.  Cement prices are up and supply hoarding, by “scalpers”, to capture future price upside is occurring as reported in Global Cement’s December publication.

Twiga Cement trades thinly on the Dar Salaam Stock Exchange.  So, when a large block of Twiga Cement was offered, I seized the opportunity and bought a block of 280,000 shares for TZS 2,640.  This (USD 324,000) adds to the position I began accumulating since 2019 at a price of TZS 1,980.  

The purchase price of TZS 2,640 per share is above my original buy up-to price of TZS2,400.  It still comfortably affords me a double-digit dividend.  I have therefore raised my target price and have filled my orders accordingly.  In short, I have CONVICTION in my recommendation to BUY and hold Twiga Cement.  I expect to receive a strong double-digit yield (net of withholding taxes) in 2021.  Twiga Cement historically pays its dividends annually, in June each year. 

Twiga shares purchase contract

Moving forward, I am delighted to have received feedback from some of you eagerly anticipating the launch of the Double Digit Dividends Fund. To answer some of your questions, it is in the pipeline and here’s where things stand:

THE FUND’S ADMINISTRATOR

I have appointed Circle Investment Support Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd. to be the Administrator of the Double Digit Dividends Fund.  The Administrator is an affiliate of Circle Partners, an international group providing management, accounting and corporate finance services to private clients, companies and institutions from its offices in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Curacao, the United States of America, the Slovak Republic, Singapore and Hong Kong.  Circle Partners are also the Administrator for my business partner, Tim Staermose’s African Lions Fund.  For more details on Circle Partners, their website can be found here.  

Circle Partners, in their capacity as the Fund’s administrator, is an INDEPENDENT party to the Fund’s Investment Officer (i.e. me). They authorise (and control) all payments from the Fund’s bank account to 3rd parties such as to investors and brokerage firms.  Their responsibilities include:

  • Doing the “Know Your Customer” (KYC) due diligence and anti-money laundering checks on prospective investors in the fund,
  • Communicating with shareholders (including providing statements to investors);
  • Maintaining the registers of Shares;
  • Administrative processing of subscriptions, transfers and redemptions of Shares;
  • Preparing and maintaining the financial and accounting records and statements of the Fund;
  • Determining the Net Asset Value of the Shares;
  • Preparing financial statements;
  • Arranging for the provision of accounting, clerical and administrative services;
  • Maintaining corporate records; and
  • Disbursing payments of fees, if any.

PETER’S SEED CAPITAL – SKIN IN THE GAME

To ensure that I have adequate “skin in the game” along-side my fellow investors, I shall seed the Fund with a significant part of my own net worth.  I am not permitted to redeem my seed investment until 3 years after the Fund’s commencement.  In short, if I succeed, we all succeed.  In the unlikely scenario that there is a diminution of net asset value, I, personally will also incur a loss.

I will have a separate class of Participating Shares (the Class M Shares) in the Fund for the above-mentioned seed amount and such class will not be subject to any management and/or performance fees. I, like all investors, will be entitled to receive any quarterly dividends/distributions earned.  During the 3-year period, I shall only be able to redeem monies up to the extent where the Net Asset Value of my holdings does not fall below the initial amount I invested.  Circle Partners, the independent administrator, shall ensure compliance with this requirement. 

To seed the fund, my holdings in Twiga Cement, Jupiter Mines and Navigator Global Investments shall be transferred into the fund.  The transfer of my holdings in these three companies shall be made at arms length, under the auspices of Circle Partners to ensure a fair and transparent market price is used.  Additional cash, to top up the Fund to my minimum seed capital shall also be deposited.  

I must apologize it is taking some time to get the fund structure up and running.  The appointment of Circle Partners and my decision to seed the fund are important steps.  It has taken me longer than expected.  I will have more information about the Fund soon.

A MESSAGE FOR MY CHILDREN

Being decisive is a good test of the conviction you have in the decision you have made. I touched on this in Rule 3, of my Double Digit Dividends’ journal 7, with the explicit heading  – “Act Decisively.”  

Being decisive is the hall-mark of the confidence you have in your decision.  My purchase of Twiga Cement and the seed monies I shall invest in the Fund is (and I hope to you and my readers) an indication of the conviction I have in my decision to start a Fund and to make it a success and of my confidence in Twiga Cement as an investment.   

Investment decisions, such as which stock to buy and sell, comes easier with practice.  They are usually a repetitive process.  For the other decisions, “life decisions” to use a general term and may include decisions such as to commence legal proceedings, and to start, continue or end a business or personal relationship; they, I have found, require a more complex decision roadmap.

It requires as a first step, to evaluate your own actions.  You need a clear conscience as a foundation to help your decision-making process.  I wrote extensively about this in my prior journal.  What remains thereafter is for you to turn to evaluate the other parties in what they have done wrong and right, and what steps they have taken or missed to rectify the situation.  This has to be done for your own benefit. You cannot control or change people but you can learn from their mistakes.

Where these conclusions draw you to will lead you to your next, and perhaps your final decision. It may well be that you decide to do nothing and accept things.  It may be that you need to steer a course to precipitate a further pathway of possible outcomes, and thereafter to re-evaluate the outcomes.  It may well be that the “die has been cast” and that you have reached a point of no return as Suetonius said to Julius Caesar when they crossed the Rubicon. 

alea iacta est

Like making an investment decision, there is no way of learning other than going through it.  For the difficult and complex “life decisions”, this is a journey that can be long, difficult and requires strength and perseverance to work through.  What is that saying – what that does not kill you, only makes you stronger and wiser. 

Whatever the decision you make, I have found that a hall-mark that you have reached a good decision (a decision made with a clear conscience and robust thought process) is the decisiveness in your actions that follow the decision.  We see the same message in the colloquial sayings of various cultures:

  • In Chinese, there is a saying – 要做, 做好好

[Ping Yin:  Yào zuò, zuò hǎohǎo]

“If you are to do something, do it well.” 

  • In English, the saying is, once you have boarded the train and leave the station, there is no turning back.  The train only picks up speed.
  • And, “If it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing well.”

To my children, no doubt there are going to be times in your future that you will need to rely on the above road map to make those hard decisions.  I hope this journal is of help to you to come to the right decisions.  Decisions, where unlike the guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, you can live in peace.