A word from the Chairman of the Board regarding the significant transformation of A.L.E.E.F., covering how the Fund is managed, governed, and communicated.
Dear Shareholder,
It gives me great pleasure to write to you. While I have had the privilege of serving as Chairman of A.L.E.E.F. for the past three years, this is the first time that the Fund’s Annual Report has included a message from the Chairman. I considered it particularly important that you hear firsthand of the meaningful change that the Fund has undergone recently. I also welcome the opportunity to share with you the Board’s perspectives on the Fund’s development, progress and future aspirations.
I am pleased to report that the Board has declared a dividend of 30 cents per share (MUR 0.30), which will be paid shortly. For our long standing shareholders, who have supported A.L.E.E.F. over many years, and a great number of you have, this distribution carries more meaning than a figure on a statement. It expresses our gratitude for your unfailing confidence in the Fund, and signals that the Fund you supported is entering a stronger and more assured period. While future dividends will always depend on the Fund’s performance and remain subject to Board approval, positioning the Fund to make sustainable distributions over time is now one of our key priorities.
A.L.E.E.F. was established more than 26 years ago with a clear and enduring purpose: that your savings be invested responsibly, held to a strict ethical standard, while achieving long term capital appreciation. That purpose remains entirely unchanged. The Board remains firmly committed to preserving and building upon those principles.
Over the past year, the Board conducted a comprehensive review of the Fund’s strategy, portfolio composition, and management. As a result, the Board engaged Heritage Wealth Partners Ltd (HWP), a licensed Mauritian investment firm led by Muhammad Seedat, as the Fund’s Portfolio Implementation and Execution Service Provider, responsible for putting the Board’s investment strategy into effect and carrying out the day to day investment of the portfolio. HWP has brought professional discipline and institutional rigour to the implementation of the Fund’s strategy and the execution of its portfolio. Alongside our globally diversified portfolio of ethical equities, the Fund now holds Sukuk, asset backed instruments that are fully aligned with our ethical framework. These developments broaden the Fund’s international reach, increase its exposure to hard currency, and establish a more stable source of income to support future dividend distributions.
We have also introduced a new share class denominated in United States Dollars, allowing family members abroad and investors beyond Mauritius to participate in the same underlying portfolio in a hard currency. Your existing holding is in no way affected by this addition, which simply broadens the Fund’s accessibility and potential investor base.
I am especially pleased to announce that the Board has approved a distinctive new facility, whereby you may elect, entirely at your sole discretion, to direct a portion of your future dividend distribution to a charitable partner association approved by the Board. These include Zakaat eligible associations, to allow shareholders who wish to do so to discharge part of their Zakaat obligation through their dividend, with the association applying the funds to those in genuine need. Please note that the Fund itself makes no donation; it merely
facilitates the shareholder’s own choice. This initiative complements our central purpose rather than competing with it, that purpose being the careful growth and protection of your savings within the values we share. Fuller details are set out on our newly refreshed website at www.aleef.mu.
We are also working on strengthening communication and engagement with our shareholders. You will be hearing from us more regularly than may have been the case in the past. You can expect enhanced factsheets, clearer reporting, and a Fund that remains in close contact with its shareholders. You can now follow us through our website or LinkedIn page.
As we look to the future, we do so with confidence. A.L.E.E.F., with a strengthened investment framework and a clear sense of purpose, enters its next chapter, stronger, more resilient and better positioned to fulfil its objectives.
To conclude, I would like to thank you for the trust you have placed in A.L.E.E.F. My fellow Board members and I are mindful of the responsibility that accompanies that trust, and we do not take it lightly. Every decision described in this letter was taken with your interests in mind, to safeguard and grow your capital while remaining faithful to the ethical principles that distinguish the Fund.
Yours sincerely,
Shakil Moollan
Chairman of the Board of Directors
A.L.E.E.F. Ltd