Emerging Markets Investment Management, the liquid emerging markets focused investment arm of Duet Group, has been appointed as sub-investment manager of the HI EMIM Africa Fund.

The HI EMIM Africa Fund has a four year track record and offers hedged multi-asset investing in Africa via a UCITS structure with weekly liquidity.

Hedge Invest (HI) is an Italian independent asset management company specialised in the creation and management of alternative investments.

Erik Renander, Portfolio Manager, has been running this fund since its inception in 2015, and joins EMIM with over 20 years of investment experience.

Under the leadership of CIO Dr Ayo Salami, Duet Group has been investing in African equities since 2008.

Together with Duet Private Equity, the Group has invested in excess of $1bn to the Sub-Saharan African region.  

Duet Group Co-Founder and CEO, Henry Gabay said: “Partnering with Hedge Invest on this fund leverages synergies between the two firms, and is a logical step to providing a specialised Africa focused UCITS strategy to our European investor base, we would also like to welcome Eric Renander to Duet Group”

Renander graduated with a BA in Economics from Amherst College in 1997, and started his career at Montgomery Asset Management in San Francisco where he was an analyst covering global financial services companies for the firm’s International Growth Fund.

He joined Sthenos Capital in London in 2002 as a European financial services analyst. He moved back to San Francisco in 2006 to join Passport Capital where he worked until 2008 as an analyst covering financial services companies in emerging markets.

In 2008, Renard joined Bellman Walter Capital as a portfolio manager investing in global financial services companies until 2009 when the firm closed.

From 2010 until 2013 Erik was VP of European Equity Sales at HSBC Bank. From 2013 until the March 2017 Erik was a portfolio manager investing in African equities for Sub-Sahara Capital, former Sub-IM of HI Africa Fund, and transitioned initially to Principia Investment Management in March 2017 and to Emerging Markets Management Limited in May 2018.

Renander said: “I am excited to join Dr Salami and his team, further expanding upon EMIM’s research capabilities and investment footprint in Africa. This fund aims to offer hedged exposure across the whole African continent, and to allow investors to benefit from both the high yields of fixed income and growth opportunities in the equity markets.”