Tuesday 16 April 2013

Asia-Pacific slow to follow global investors into Africa

Paul Robinson
Asia-Pacific’s professional investment advisors are lagging the rest of the world in tapping Africa’s huge investment growth potential. A new survey from Alquity Investment Management finds that 75% of independent financial advisors (IFAs) from outside Asia-Pacific are either “likely or somewhat likely” either to invest or recommend investing in African opportunities.
 
But only 56% of their Asia-Pacific counterparts take the same position. The survey also finds that while a global average 62% of financial intermediaries already have client money in investment funds for Africa, Asia-Pacific again lags at 50%. Both globally and in Asia-Pacific, close to 70% of those invested in Africa are using the Alquity Africa Fund.
The findings follow the recent meeting in Durban, South Africa, of heads of state and government from the five BRICS nations, which among other things focussed international attention on China’s deepening interests in Africa. “Against that backdrop, and given the enthusiastic approach of Asia-Pacific investors to attractive growth opportunities, it comes as a surprise that those same investors remain wary of Africa’s investment potential”, said Alquity CEO Paul Robinson.
Asked about investment destinations outside Africa, an overwhelming 97% of Asia-Pacific investors said they prefer to invest in China and Asia-Pacific, with Latin America as the second-favourite target for their funds.
As reported in earlier Case for Africareviews from Alquity, Africa is now home to 15 of the world’s 29 fastest growing economies, and Africa as a whole, with booming populations exceeding one billion, is today positioned where BRICS nations were a decade ago. Investment guru George Soros is among an increasing number of professional investors now expressing enthusiasm for Africa’s huge growth potential.
The Alquity Africa Fund was set up in June 2010 to target long-term growth, and invests in companies that are either listed on 11 of Africa’s stock exchanges or derive most of their income or profit from within Africa. In the year to December 2012, its US$I share class grew 15.1%.
The fund is authorized in Hong Kong by the Securities and Futures Commission, and is available to investors through locally-based IFAs and platforms such as Convoy, Friends Provident and iFast, among others.

Source: The Asset

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