Old Mutual Investment Group remains underweight to Nigeria in their portfolios relative to the MSCI Africa indices on concerns around currency devaluation and the economic slowdown, according to portfolio manager Cavan Osborne.
The recent announcement of S&P; downgrading Brazilian bonds to ‘junk’ status has raised questions about whether the South African bond market will be the next emerging market to be downgraded.
S&P; Dow Jones Indices has launched the Dow Jones Sustainability South Africa Composite Diversified Index, which is part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Diversified family of indices (DJSI Diversified).
There is significant investor appetite and liquid funds available for international equity investment in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Judith Tyson, research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute.
Standard Chartered has acted as the joint lead arranger and bookrunner for the Republic of Ghana’s latest $1bn sovereign bond issue.
FTSE Russell has launched the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Series, developed as a result of the expanded partnership between FTSE Russell and Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), announced earlier this year.
High net worth South Africans have increased their allocation to hedge funds from 14.1% in 2014 to 26.4% in 2015, according to an annual hedge funds survey by Novare Investments.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth will slow in 2015 to 3.7% from 4.6% in 2014, reaching the lowest growth rate since 2009, according to new World Bank projections.
T. Rowe Price, a global asset manager with $773bn AUM, has launched the Emerging Markets Value Stock Fund with exposure to undervalued African stocks.
Islamic finance can act as the catalyst in mobilizing funding into Africa, thereby resulting in economic growth and sustainable development, according to a report by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).
Recent weakness in the Egyptian market is leading investors to look again for opportunities, but currency risks remain the major obstacle, according to Simon Kitchen, Director of MENA Strategy at EFG Hermes.
Aberdeen Asset Management has said it will acquire 100% ownership of Advance Emerging Capital (AEC), a London based specialist investment manager with over $633m (£409m) across a range of investment funds.
The expulsion of Nigeria from JPMorgan’s Government Bond Index is an embarrassment to the economic reputation of the Nigerian Government, according to Ayo Salami, CIO of Africa Liquid Strategies at Duet Asset Management.
With the continued weakening of the South African Rand, offshore allocations should be the foundation of any investment strategy for South African investors, according to Windall Bekker, Senior Vice President of PineBridge Investments.
