Idea for a mutual fund owned by co-ops gains traction

The idea behind a fund to invest in co-operatives and mutuals has been discussed and developed at the International Summit of Cooperatives.

MoMaCC – the Mutual of Mutual and Cooperative Capital – addresses the issue of raising capital for all sizes of co-operatives, plus it allows those to make secure investments too.

The members and investors in MoMaCC will be mutuals and co-operatives and the board of the organisation will drawn from the membership. 

The proposed fund is being set up by UK-based consultancy Mutuo and professional services provider Charles Taylor plc. It will allow the raising of capital through an institution that they collectively own and control.

During the launch in Quebec, Peter Hunt, chief executive of Mutuo, said: “MoMaCC is about bringing together co-operative and mutual businesses that have the investment and the need for investment. There are significant co-ops and mutuals with the cash to invest, where they want return. It seems to me theres’s a simple idea to bring those two together.

“We can facilitate investments around the world, so an Australian co-operative could invest in a Canadian mutual across different sectors. This will create a virtuous circle of investments within the co-operative and mutual sectors.”

Currently, the two organisations are in discussions with a small number of mutuals and co-operatives to become the founding members of MoMaCC, which will join the initial board of the mutual, controlling key decisions including quality control of membership, investment criteria and areas of operation.

Longer term the membership of MoMaCC will be open to any co-operatives or mutuals that meet the due diligence and other quality criteria set by the board. The initial membership will focus on entities within the top 300 co-operatives and mutuals, plus other mutuals of similar standing.

• For more of our coverage of the International Summit of Co-operatives, visit thenews.coop/summit.