JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Investment facilitator SA Bullion Fund Management, which holds a dispensation granted by the South African Reserve Bank to facilitate investments into gold Krugerrands, has merged with black-owned Aurum Gold Investor Services, the company announced on Wednesday.

The merger created a single point of access for individual and institutional investors seeking to build a store of physical gold.

“The merging of services and companies to a single brand strengthens our brand proposition and clarifies our service offering for clients as a turnkey investment solution for the purchase, storage and redemption of physical gold bullion Krugerrands,” said SA Bullion founding director Hilton Davies.

SA Bullion executive director Imran O’Brien noted that the merger enabled the company to derive the benefits of a larger and stronger group driving the shared vision of unlocking the benefits of title ownership of physical gold to all South Africans.

“We share the belief that gold is the bedrock of any investment portfolio, that it is the safest store of wealth in these uncertain economic times and that it should be made as widely accessible as possible to provide financial security to the greatest number of investors.”

At a corporate level, the SA Bullion group would benefit from a strengthening of company boards with the retention of directors as well as the alignment of interests of all the owner-managers, the company said in a statement. SA Bullion would operate from one consolidated set of offices at what are currently the offices of Aurum Gold at The Waverley Business Park in Observatory, Cape Town.