East African countries needs to develop deep, liquid financial markets in order to accelerate and sustain economic growth, according to industry experts.
South African institutions are, on average, lacking significant commitment to alternative assets and private equity investments, with many funds having no exposure at all, according to Old Mutual Alternative Investments.
Insparo Asset Management has broadened the mandate of its current flagship strategy, the Insparo Africa and Middle East Fund, to include the wider frontier markets, and renamed the fund to Insparo Frontier Markets Opportunities Fund.
The South African hedge fund industry has enjoyed consistent steady growth of around R10bn ($0.84bn) a year over the past three years, according to the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA).
The prospects for mining in Africa remains essentially intact over the medium term, according to Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest lender by assets.
The French government has unveiled a €240bn ($271.56bn) Africa investment fund at the French-African Forum for a Shared Growth in Paris.
Momentum GIM, in conjunction with Eris Property Group, has successfully closed the first tranche of its African Real Estate Fund with $50m commitments from institutional investors, family offices and high networth individuals.
Duet Group, an alternative asset manager, has announced the launch of a UCITS version of its Duet MENA Horizon Fund, a long only equity fund focusing on investment opportunities in listed equities in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Africa fell by 3% last year to an estimated $55bn, largely accounted for by a decrease of FDI into North Africa, according to the UNCTAD’s Global Investment Trends Monitor.
African Alliance, an Africa-focused investment banking group, has launched a R65m ($5.64m) AUM unit trust, the African Alliance SA S&P; GIVI Equity Prescient Fund.
Recent drastic declines in the international oil price and the resultant sharp cuts in the local petrol price could herald a sharp turnaround in South Africa’s more immediate fortunes, according to Old Mutual Investment Group.
East African equity markets showed the best performance in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) during 2014, led by Tanzania (+22.7%), Uganda (14.1%) and Kenya (13.3%), according to a report by PineBridge Investments.
The continuous decline in crude oil prices is posing a number of challenges for Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Fusion Group.
High net worth individuals will be key driver for small and new South African funds going forward, according to some of the participants at the latest Opalesque South Africa Roundtable.
