Old Mutual Namibia's Midina Fund is slowly emerging as a key financier of infrastructure developments.
To date the fund has committed N$200 million to six projects. These include the construction of the Rehoboth Medical Centre and Ongwediva Medipark, the servicing of ervens at Longbeach in Walvis Bay by Quadrant Engineering, the construction of the head office of the Roads Contractor Company, and the upgrading and construction of new lodges for Namibia Wildlife Resorts under its turn around strategy.

Headed by Brigitte Weichert, the Midina fund is a pooled portfolio that provides debt financing to local authorities, state owned enterprises and related third-party empowerment entities for infrastructure development projects.
The name Midina is an acronym for Managing Infrastructure Development in Namibia. It aims at funding projects such as road and railway infrastructure, power supply and distribution, property development, low cost housing, and the privatisation or commercialisation of government services.
Asked how different Midina was from the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN), Weichert said both are geared toward developmental financing but the DBN is involved in SME funding and other sectors of the economy, while the Midina fund focuses only on infrastructure funding.
“[Midina] fund is based on an asset management driven model with a primarily fiduciary relationship towards investors. It is a unitised pooled portfolio geared towards retirement funds, benefit funds, including medical aid schemes, life offices, donor agencies and international investors. Midina provides diversification benefits to investment portfolios by way offering an asset class that has minimal correlation with equities hence reduced volatility,” she said.
Mercia Geises, alternative investments assistant portfolio manager at Old Mutual, said the fund has been received positively, from both an investor and a financial beneficiary’s point of view. “Alternative investments, when used correctly and under the guidance of a knowledgeable asset manager, can create incredibly positive outcomes for their investors,” she said.
Geises said infrastructure development does not only stimulate and sustains economic growth and development but multiplies economic growth and creates jobs. “This in turn, has enormous social benefits to the country. “The majority of infrastructure investments we have made aim to participate in the upliftment of socio-economic standards in the country through job creation, and service provision,” she said adding that pension funds can enjoy the benefits of contributing to economic and social upliftment, while diversifying their portfolios and obtaining market related returns.