Business | Investment
Alquity offers Africa fund
Opportunities open up for Gulf investors
- By Babu Das Augustine, Deputy Business Editor
- Published: 00:00 February 9, 2012
Dubai: A growing number of UAE-based investors are seeking equity investment opportunities in Africa, said Paul Robinson, CEO of Alquity Investment Management (AIM), here yesterday.
AIM manages Alquity Africa Fund, an open-ended fund that invests across public markets in Africa, and is planning to offer African investment opportunities to Gulf investors.
"Despite the overall negative investor perception of Africa in terms of security, economic and political stability, there has been ample evidence that these markets can deliver attractive returns on investments," said Robinson.
AIM is tying up with a number of GCC and global institutions to reach their Africa Fund to retail investors.
In the past decade stock markets across Africa have produced impressive performances relative to other global markets. Africa as a region, however, has historically been difficult for retail investors to access, especially in the Middle East.
Diversified growth
The Alquity Africa Fund provides diversified, one-stop access to the growth potential of Africa.
It is an absolute return product, which does not attempt to invest purely in companies belonging to a particular index or benchmark. The fund targets double-digit returns from Africa's high-growth economies.
"The fund is simple for clients to understand as it does not use gearing [leverage] nor derivatives and hence avoids unnecessary risks," said Robinson.
Currently, Alquity is listed on a number of platforms, which service the UAE and Middle East, including Friends Provident, Zurich International and Hansard.
"We have started to develop strong, long-term relationships with clients in the region and with the launch on the Zurich distribution platform we are able to deliver attractive growth to investors on a long-term, sustainable basis. We have ambitious growth plans in the UAE," Robinson said.
The fund offers investors a strategy to maximise long-term investment opportunities.
In eight of the last 10 years, emerging markets have outperformed developed economies in delivering investment growth.
AIM expects Africa to deliver stronger returns on investment compared to Brazil, Russia, India and China in the next decade.
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