In July, OP and Finnfund announced plans to establish Finland’s first impact fund - the OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I - that will invest into emerging markets. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Tuomas Virtala, CEO of OP Asset Management and Markus Pietikäinen (pictured), CIO of Finnfund to learn more.
Mauritius has forged a reputation as a safe, trusted and competitive financial centre. At the private sector level, Mauritius has been at the forefront of driving quality investments into Africa. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Yogesh Gokool, Senior Executive – Head Global Business at AfrAsia Bank to discuss the African strategy of Mauritius, investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan and AfrAsia’s activities on the continent.
In May, AGF attended AFSIC in London, UK - the largest Africa investment event taking place annually outside Africa. On the sidelines of the conference, we’ve met with Sanjeev Gupta, Africa Finance Corporation's (AFC) Executive Director for Financial Services.
Britam Financial Holdings has recently approved an anchor investment in Tiserin Capital, Africa’s first south-south private equity fund. The investment is a breakthrough in the region’s financial markets highlighting the important role pension funds, insurance and other local investors can play in supporting long term investments in the region. We caught up with Kenneth Kaniu, Britam Asset Managers CEO, to learn more about the deal, the firm, and the needs and constraints of institutional investors in Kenya and East Africa.
Proparco, the French Development Finance Institution (DFI), has been active in Africa for over 40 years. The DFI has developed a comprehensive approach, with presence on the continent through six regional offices, covering its debt, guarantee and equity offerings. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Jérémie Ceyrac, Head of Equity, Responsible Investments to learn more about financial products on offer, recent investments in Africa and African impact investment scene.
After careful consideration and analysis, the Franklin Templeton Investment Funds (FTIF) Board of directors decided to merge the FTIF Templeton Africa Fund into the $65.9m FTIF Templeton Frontier Markets Fund, effective February 15, 2019. Due to both funds sharing similar investment objectives and target investor profiles, the Board believes that this merger will offer economies of scale to existing shareholders.
EMPEA this week released its year-end Industry Statistics, which outlines the bottom line for private investment in emerging markets across the globe. AGF speaks with Jeff Schlapinski, Senior Director, Research, EMPEA, about African private capital fundraising in 2018, deal activity, fund strategies and more.
In December 2018, H.E. Calle Schlettwein, Minister of Finance of Namibia visited New York to meet with US investors and businesses to discuss economic recovery prospects and investment opportunities. In an exclusive interview with Africa Global Funds, Minister of Finance said that the country has embarked on a large scale programme of renewing and developing its infrastructure. The country offers opportunities for investment in infrastructure trough public private partnerships (PPPs) or foreign direct investment (FDI).
Venture Capital (VC) in Africa has grown at a tremendous pace in the last few years as investors hunt value earlier in the cycle. Startup funding in the first half of 2018 was over 50% higher than in the whole of 2017. AGF’s Anna Lyudvig speaks with Enitan Obasanjo-Adeleye, AVCA's Director and Head of Research to discuss the current trends.
AGF catches up with Zack Bezuidenhoudt, Head of Client Coverage, South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, S&P Dow Jones Indices, to discuss the indexing industry, investors’ needs and whether Africa is following global trends
SGG Group offers administrative and accounting solutions for investment funds, multinational corporations and family offices across more than 20 countries. Last year, the firm acquired Cim Global Business in Mauritius, which was rebranded as SGG. Graham Sheward, Managing Director, SGG Mauritius, tells AGF about some of the projects in Africa.
IBIS is a premier emerging market sustainability consultancy that assists private and public companies unlock value and improve their environmental and social performance. IBIS was established in 2015 by some of the most experienced and respected sustainability consultants in Africa who collectively have over 150 years’ experience in the environmental and social management fields. IBIS has offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa and in Nairobi, Kenya. Since establishment, IBIS has undertaken hundreds of projects for African and global financial sector clients in >40 countries in Africa as well as in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. IBIS employs over 30 professional staff and has in-house language capabilities in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and various African languages.
Hamish James, Investec’s Head of Prime Services, tells AGF about Investec Prime, developments in the past year, fintech and SA hedge fund industry
AGF’s Anna Lyudvig sits down with Ann Leepile, Head of Absa Asset Management, to discuss the firm, its franchise model and how to succeed as a female in a male-dominated industry
