Ahead of tomorrow's make-or-break FIFA World Cup game against Portugal, the Ghana "Black Stars" are not happy. Amid controversy over match-fixing, the players have demanded that the World Cup appearance fees they are owed be paid; and as Bloomberg reports [9], "The players insisted that they will want physical cash." The Ghanaian government has chartered a plane and the dollars are on their way to Brazil. Perhaps the players want to invest it in the latest grand idea - Ghana's first hedge fund has just been launched [10] (prepare for more emails).
As Bloomberg reports [9],
Ghana has sent a plane carrying more than $3 million in cash to Brazil to pay the World Cup appearance fees owed to the national soccer team, known as the Black Stars.
“The players insisted that they will want physical cash,” Deputy Sports Minister Joseph Yammin said in comments broadcast by Accra-based Citi FM. “Government had to mobilize the money and a chartered flight to Brazil. The money is in excess of $3 million.”
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“President Mahama waded into the matter after agitation from the Black Stars players,” the association said. “President Mahama personally spoke to the players to assure them the money will be paid by Wednesday afternoon.”
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“At the drop of a hat, to bring in $3 million in cash, it might get you into a spot of bother,” he said. “I don’t think the Brazilians will confiscate it but they just may not allow it to be released.”
And this comes after controversy over match fixing allegations...
The Ghanaian team has been dealing with issues off the field all week, as the football association asked police to investigate claims reported by the London-based Daily Telegraph that the association’s president had agreed to fix future international exhibition matches.
The GFA has denied the report and says that the two men mentioned in the story never made offers to bribe them or association President Kwesi Nyantakyi.
But perhaps more interesting (as an example of wealth creation and exuberance) [10]...
Tikowrie Capital Ltd., a Ghanaian money manager started by a former regulator, plans to establish the West African country’s first hedge fund.
“The appetite of investors in the country has grown over the years,” Tikowrie Executive Director Maxwell Gidi said by phone from Accra yesterday. “They’re looking for more sophisticated avenues of investment.”
Gidi, 37, said he quit his job as assistant manager of the broker-dealer department at Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission, where he worked for seven years, to start Tikowrie six months ago.
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The hedge fund will trade in U.S., Canadian and Australian dollars as well as the euro, British pound and yen, Gidi said. It will also buy and sell gold, copper and palladium and trade in sovereign debt through London-based CFH Clearing Ltd., its prime broker.
Funding? we suspect more spam emails will hit the US soon...
