The international investment manager Threadneedle Investments announces that it has entered into a promotion and referral agreement with South African investment manager STANLIB to introduce its clients globally to STANLIB Africa strategies. STANLIB will similarly offer African investors access to Threadneedle capabilities. STANLIB, which manages over US$45 billion for retail and institutional clients, specialises in South African and African investments across all major asset classes including property.
The agreement follows the announcement in August 2012, that STANLIB had selected Threadneedle to manage in excess of US$800 million in Global and Emerging Market equity and Global Balanced portfolios as part of its offshore investment range. Today, Threadneedle manages in excess of US$1 billion on behalf of STANLIB.
Strategies that Threadneedle will introduce include: Africa ex South Africa Equity, a strategy asset management footprint in Africa, Global Emerging Market Property and Direct Property investment opportunities in carefully chosen economically growing areas on the African continent managed by STANLIB. STANLIB will actively promote Threadneedle investment capabilities to African investors.
Michael Housden, Head of Middle East and Africa Distribution at Threadneedle comments: “We are delighted to be able to offer investors across the globe access to African strategies which invest in some of the fastest growing and still largely untapped markets in the world. We expect to see increasing demand from investors for exposure to Africa given the tremendous growth opportunities the continent offers. Equally we believe investors in Africa will be attracted to Threadneedle excellent track record of outperformance across asset classes”.
Dylan Evans, Head of International Business Development at STANLIB: “Economy is around $2.0 trillion and is expected to reach $2.6 trillion by 2020. Yet, very few of the largest 200 pension funds in the UK and Europe are known to have any dedicated exposure to Africa. Of course, Africa is not without its risks and high among these is political risk. Evidence of that was clearly apparent in North Africa in 2013, where political unrest led to volatile performances from both Egypt and Tunisia. However, a well-diversified African portfolio can be profitable for investors even when individual markets are under pressure, different African markets being driven by different dynamics”.
The outlook for 2014 is promising, with grow by around 5.5% in 2014, the average rate over the past decade faster than any other region in the world, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit2. An investment in Africa is certainly likely to be more volatile than in other markets, “but we believe Africa’s superior growth prospects and under- representation in investors’ portfolios create many opportunities for long-term investors”.